"In such situations, a few early key individuals end up having a disproportionately large effect, such that small differences in initial conditions create large differences later in the cascade. We see such effects in fields ranging from consumer fads (think Atkins—everyone knows a meat-and-cheese diet isn’t healthy for you!), science (like global warming), and technology (VHS beat BETA in the video market, though BETA was a superior machine)."
You can still start huge flamewars by expressing an opinion either way about global warming or even Atkins, but VHS is a bad example--Beta had better video quality, but VHS had longer duration and people hate getting up to change cassettes in the middle of a movie.
As for global warming, no matter which side of the argument you agree with there's no comparison here either--the opinions of scientists studying the issue of global warming formed throughout the past three or four decades, and the opinions of the general public are a result of political pressure both ways--neither was a response to early opinion makers.
You can still start huge flamewars by expressing an opinion either way about global warming or even Atkins, but VHS is a bad example--Beta had better video quality, but VHS had longer duration and people hate getting up to change cassettes in the middle of a movie.
As for global warming, no matter which side of the argument you agree with there's no comparison here either--the opinions of scientists studying the issue of global warming formed throughout the past three or four decades, and the opinions of the general public are a result of political pressure both ways--neither was a response to early opinion makers.