[OPE-L:2947] Re: sunspots

Gerald Lev (glevy@pratt.edu)
Tue, 3 Sep 1996 08:16:33 -0700 (PDT)

[ show plain text ]

Paul C wrote in [OPE-L:2945]:

> It is unfair to categorise the sunspot theory along with the others here.
> It now seems likely that sunspots do have an influence on climate and
> on agricultural production. If there is an inbuilt oscillatory tendancy
> in capitalist economies with a period approximately equal to 10 years,
> then it is not implausible that external forcing by climatic variations
> might bring this into phase with the sunspot cycle. I dont know if this
> is true, but it is at least plausible and can be the subject of practical
> investigation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notwithstanding the dialectic between humans and nature, there is no
reason to suppose that there is a cause-and-effect relation between
sunspots and agricultural production and business cycle variations in
capitalist economies. *Even if* it can be shown empirically that the two
factors seem to occur at the same time and resemble a cyclical pattern
and relationship, one would still have to develop a reasonable scientific
hypothesis that would explain this (alleged) relationship.

In OPE-L Solidarity,

Jerry