What parts are natural? How big is their effect and in which direction? How do you know?
It's not simply a matter of isolating which parts are natural and which ones are caused by human activity, but rather we must also examine
how those parts interact with each other, especially when that interaction results in effects greater than the sum of its parts. AKA synergy (despite its overuse as a buzzword):
quote:
Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts (i.e., a non-linear addition of force, energy, or effect). The term synergy comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία synergia from synergos, συνεργός, meaning "working together".
For example, large amounts of methane trapped for millennia in the frozen tundra is now being released into the atmosphere. That is a natural source of methane,
but the reason the tundra started melting is from temperature rise caused by human activity. And once that melting got started, its natural effects drove the temperature higher resulting in even more melting and even more methane released driving the temperature even higher, rinse and repeat.
In semiconductor electronics, we learned that as the
avalanche effect. Driving a current through a resistance generates heat (
power =
voltage ×
current,
P = EI). But semiconductors have a
negative temperature coefficient of resistance which results in the semiconductor's resistance decreasing as it gets hotter (unlike conductors with a
positive temperature coefficient of resistance wherein heat causes resistance to increase, hence the approach of driving the temperature downwards
absolute zero (−273.15 °C) in order to get
superconductivity). As per
Ohm's Law (
I=E/R), decreasing resistance increases current, but that will increase the temperature which in turn increases current, increasing temperature, rinse and repeat. Which means that if you don't design your semiconductor circuit to limit the current through your semiconductor device to keep it within its power capacity, then it will burn out as soon as you try to use it.
BYTE April Fool's Article of New Electronic Devices:
Noise Emitting Diode (NED):
In response to being connected across a large current source, the NED emits a loud noise. Once.
Basically, in a complex system with interactive parts, any one thing will affect other things; nothing acts in isolation from the rest.
Hence, sharply dividing between natural and man-caused causes is over-simplistic and delusional wishful thinking on the part of deniers.
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