I wish to acknowledge the following GFDL colleagues who have been of immense value to me in my struggle to understand the workings of the dauntingly complex and diverse aspects of the climate system: Anthony Broccoli, Kirk Bryan, Thomas Delworth, Leo Donner, Kevin Hamilton, Isaac Held, Stephen Klein, Thomas Knutson, Ngar-Cheung Lau, Hiram Levy II, Syukuro Manabe, Christopher Milly, V Ramaswamy, Jorge Sarmiento, M Daniel Schwarzkopf, Brian Soden, Ronald Stouffer, J Robert Toggweiler, Richard Wetherald, R John Wilson, and Gareth Williams. Regarding the writing of this paper, I am grateful to Anthony Broccoli, Mack McFarland, and Robert Socolow for their perceptive comments and recomendations on earlier versions. Two anonymous reviewers were helpful in their numerous suggestions for improvements. Betty M Williams provided invaluable assistance in manuscript preparation. Finally, I am indebted to the legion of scientists who have worked selflessly to make the IPCC process work. Without them, the world would not yet be ready for this essay.
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