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[Berlinski’s radical and often wrong-headed skepticism represents an ascendant style in the popular debate over American science: Like the recent crop of global-warming skeptics, AIDS denialists, and biotech activists, Berlinski uses doubt as a weapon against the academy—he’s more concerned with what we don’t know than what we do.]

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Could you please clarify:

1. Are you an adherent of Al Gore's “Man is causing Global Warming” arguments?
2. What do you mean by “the recent crop” of global-warming skeptics?
3. What are the “AIDS denialists” denying?
4. What are the “biotech activists” activating for (or against)?

[He uses uncertainty to challenge the scientific consensus; he points to the evidence that isn’t there and seeks out the things that can’t be proved.]

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1. Don't scientists regularly challenge the “consensus” of science when they propose that a currently held scientific belief is inaccurate and/or incomplete?
2. If a scientific consensus lacks “evidence that isn't there” (it is unclear how something that doesn't exist can be evidence) and contains “things that can't be proved”, isn't the validity of that consensus clearly open to questioning?

[In its extreme and ideological form, this contrarian approach to science can turn into a form of paranoia—a state of permanent suspicion and outrage. But Berlinski is hardly a victim of the style. He’s merely its most methodical practitioner.]

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1. Is the “contrarian approach to science” acceptable, as long as it is not some “extreme and ideological form”?
2. Who are the gatekeepers that determine if questioning a scientific consensus should be designated as “extreme and ideological”?
3. Would those gatekeepers be the ones who have a vested interest in maintaining the consensus?
4. Do you believe that Berlinski (and other practitioners alluded to in your post) are in a paranoid state of permanent suspicion and outrage?

Thanks in advance for your clarifications/responses to these questions.