Comments 1 to 3:

1. Kooiti Masuda at 13:59 PM on 5 July, 2010
   Donella Meadows's "Thinking in Systems", posthumusly published in 2008 from Chelsea Green (USA) and Earthscan (UK), avoids the terms "positive" and "negative" with respect to feedbacks, and uses "reinforcing" and "balancing" instead. In my opinion, "balancing" may also be misleading, and "attenuating" or "stabilizing" seem better. I still usually use "positive" and "negative", though.
2. neilrieck at 21:17 PM on 5 July, 2010
   I hope we're not getting too politically correct in our terminology. The phrases "positive feedback" and "negative feedback" were first used by engineers in the 1930's who were developing amplifiers for the national telephone system.
   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback#In_electronics
   
   As a rule, negative feedback is good while positive feedback is bad.
3. greenhousegaseous at 22:17 PM on 5 July, 2010
   It isn't a matter of being "politically correct", but of trying to improve our collective (so far) dismal track record of explaining climate science to a largely ignorant voting public. My background is econometric modeling as well as engineering, but I would be happy to help develop *any* alternative verbal (or conceptual) constructs that can help reduce the present confusion regarding climate change, and climate change modeling in particular.
   
   Those of us with specialized technical backgrounds all too often demand the general public first accept our often arcane terminology before being permitted to share our knowledge. Then we resent the mass media for misrepresenting the science.
   
   The cartoon is therefore right to call our attention to one of the most common examples of unintentional modeling obfuscation.
   
   We desperately need to clarify all this stuff in a way that helps the voters of the advanced democracies get behind greenhouse gas reduction programs. You can lead a bunch of horses to a drying water hole, but you can't make them think.
   
   Greenhouse Gaseous

You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login via the left margin or if you're new, register here.