Summary of Richard E. Klein on “Shivering: Heating Up the Global Warming Debate” | Tom Nelson Pod #80

00:00:00 - 00:45:00

Richard E. Klein, an engineer and former professor, puts forward his hypothesis about the causation of ice ages in this video. He argues that, rather than being driven by external factors, ice ages are internally generated mechanisms within Earth's climate system. Klein points to the reconstruction of Earth's atmospheric record, which goes back 5.5 million years and shows a shift from a 41,000-year cycle to a longer cycle over the last one million years, as supporting evidence for his theory. He also discusses other studies that he has conducted in his over 50-year research on the topic. Finally, Klein expresses his skepticism about the climate community and the debate on global warming, and discusses his lack of concern over rising ocean levels due to the bulk of water resting on land in the form of frozen ice in Antarctica.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Richard Klein, an engineer and former professor at the University of Illinois, discusses his hypothesis that the causation of ice ages is an internally generated mechanism within the Earth's climate system, rather than an external driver argument. He argues that the reconstruction of the Earth's atmospheric record, going back to 5.5 million years ago, supports his theory by showing a dramatic shift from a 41,000-year cycle to a longer cycle in the last one million years. Additionally, Klein explains that by studying rocks and the Earth's temperature records, scientists and geologists have been able to reconstruct the story of the Earth's climate system.
• 00:05:00 In this section, Richard Klein, a control systems engineer, discusses the Earth's temperature history in the last million years and the 10 dominant swings of temperature that led to 10 periodic ice ages. He explains that evidence from the Vostok record, which extracted cores of ice sediments in Antarctica, shows the Earth's temperature and carbon dioxide concentration for approximately 420,000 years and proves that periodic ice ages have occurred. Klein's theory is that the ice ages are caused internally through a self-generating mechanism, and he has been studying and researching this topic for over 50 years.
• 00:10:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein delves into the history of the study of periodic ice ages and the many theories surrounding their causes. He highlights the work of Serbian mathematician Milankovic, who attempted to correlate the wobble of the earth with the record of the Ice Age as determined by rocks long before the Vostok Rapid was made public. Klein mentions a total of 60 different theories on the cause of ice ages, with most of them being rooted in the assumption of an external driver causing the Earth to warm and cool periodically. However, Klein questions this assumption and mentions the study by Sergeev and Sergeev, who argued that Earth's ice ages could be internally generated.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein discusses the concept of limit cycles, a phenomenon in dynamic systems in which things self-oscillate or generate, and the work of Russian mathematician Am Liapunov, who devised a stability theorem and proposed the concept of a limit cycle. Klein argues that the Earth's periodic ice ages are explainable by a limit cycle, and identifies some examples of limit cycles in nature, including Old Faithful Geyser and the human heart. He also touches on his own hypothesis for what the mechanism is for these ice ages.
• 00:20:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein discusses the Vostok ice core and its importance in testing any theories or explanations for the periodic ice ages that occur on Earth. He points out that when the Earth rebounds out of an Ice Age, it does so abruptly and in a rapid fashion, which must be accounted for in any theory. He rejects external driver mechanisms and argues that the causation of ice ages is an internal mechanism. He also mentions the eruption of Lake Niles in Cameroon, which released a massive amount of toxic gases that stirred up the entire lake and deposited layers of sediment on nearby shorelines.
• 00:25:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein discusses the idea that the mechanism for causing periodic ice ages is the instability of the Earth's oceans, leading to a density inversion that causes them to flip and turn over violently. He argues that this is supported by evidence that when bodies of water flip, they do so in a sudden and violent way, and that the release of gases during this process can contribute to climate change. Klein also explores the concept of positive feedback loops that can reinforce themselves and make the Earth's climate system unstable. Despite the presence of positive feedbacks, Klein asserts that the Earth has not gone into a snowball Earth scenario because something violently and abruptly causes it to reverse course, and he suggests that this may be linked to the oceans becoming unstable.
• 00:30:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein discusses the limitations of science in proving his theory on Earth's ice age causation. He explains that science is built on the scientific method, which involves conducting experiments to test hypotheses, but conducting such experiments on Earth's climate is impossible due to the long time frames involved and the lack of a laboratory setting. Additionally, computer simulations cannot be taken as proof, as they can be manipulated to prove any theory. Klein expresses his distrust of the climate community for their failure to explain Earth's ice age causation, and believes that the hysteria over global warming is absurd without a proper understanding of this phenomenon. Though he hopes to be proven wrong, he asserts that his theory is based on scientific skepticism and has been a fascinating subject of study.
• 00:35:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein addresses the scientific process and emphasizes that science is a skeptical process whereby one observes the world then develops a hypothesis. He admits that he lacks the ability to substantiate his own hypothesis and welcomes questions and inquiry. Klein also speaks on the importance of simplification in theories and discusses the simplicity of internal factors from his own hypothesis. When asked about what is to come, Klein voices his concern over the possibility of another ice age, citing the burning of fossil fuels as a possible chance to fight against global warming. In conclusion, Klein is not worried about the rising of the ocean levels and points to the fact that the Earth's oceans have risen approximately 400 feet over the last 12,000 years.
• 00:40:00 In this section, Richard E. Klein discusses his lack of concern for global warming and rising oceans due to the bulk of water resting on land in the form of frozen ice in Antarctica. Klein discusses the causation of the ocean flip and presents two potential explanations: density inversion or supersaturation of gases. He notes that the US Navy does not concern itself with anything deeper than 500 feet, despite the Pacific Ocean having five miles of water, and that it's a tough problem since they know very little about oceans deeper than 500 feet or what happened millions of years ago. He also gives his hypothesis that the change in regimes from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles was due to a different fluctuation in oceans caused by changes in temperature and amount of ice cover on the Earth.
• 00:45:00 In this section, Richard Klein asserts that the cause of the 41,000-year recycle is internals to the Earth and has to be related to the oceans. He also disagrees with the climate change debate by stating that it is not based on science, but hysteria. Klein explains that the meteorological climate community has failed to explain periodic ice ages because they are ill-equipped to handle the problem, do not understand the mathematics of feedback control systems, and have just gone down a certain path saying that they are correct. Additionally, Klein is looking for a co-author to collaborate with him on further research on ocean currents and climate change.