For what it's worth, I've never been impressed with "Whatever" as a
logical rejoinder. I guess I'm just funny that way.

Michael McCulloch wrote:
Whatever... Filling the air with more and different pollutants is no
real solution that will help anyone's quality of life. It is just a
stupid news story.

Filling the body with more and different microorganisms is no real
solution that will help anyone's quality of--oh wait, it did. And does.
Every day.

Pollutant in this context just means something that wouldn't have been
there if we didn't take such and such an action. It doesn't mean it's
worse or better, except as we measure it. I certainly think that the
global climate is worth affecting for the better, and if adding a bit of
this and that happens to make it "better," then it's worth looking into.
It sounds counter-intuitive, to be sure, but vitamins and antibiotics
were counter-intuitive, even cockamamie-sounding, in their day.

I agree that the news story is, if not quite stupid, at least premature.
But the activity, if there's some actual reason--not intuition--to
believe it might work, is neither.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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