[FRIAM] A bold meteorological theory

[Prof David West]

 Nick, may I ask for some clarification?  You said, "one of my favorite myth's is the Emperor's New Clothes, *"the idea that one can go PhD-less into some expert world and see something that expert practitioners are blind to."* What is mythical—i.e., who has 'not clothes', the one(s) with the Ph.D.s or the one without?

dave west


On Sat, Mar 14, 2026, at 6:24 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
> 
> Hi, all, 
> 
> Meteorology, like psychology, and quantum theory, etc. is a subject matter that collects fringy theorists.  Since I am such a person, I cant really fault another human being for being one. Also, one of my favorite myth's is the Emperor's New Clothes, the idea that one can go PhD-less into some expert world and see something that expert practitioners are blind to.  Today's post is thus an invitation to Shumlik Hazin's Substack and a summary of my interaction with its author over the last few weeks.  I am not sure it's everybody's cup of tea, but those of you interested in the role of metaphor in science might ponder on it.  
> 
> All the best, 
> 
> Nick 
> --
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
> Clark University
> nthompson at clarku.edu
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson
> https://substack.com/@monist
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