I guess the point of the question is really a flippant "why is this on Hacker News?" You can call it defining away if you want, I don't think it's charitable to

I guess the point of the question is really a flippant "why is this on Hacker News?" You can call it defining away if you want, I don't think it's charitable to assume "party line" means "what the peer reviewed scientific papers say in their shortest summaries." A quick google search found http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2004/climate.shtml http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2004/climate.shtml where "it is impossible for an ice age to strike within days, as happens in the movie. They warn, however, that climate change may have significant consequences for society in coming decades." Emphasis mine, since it's pretty much the same warning as the title. It was interesting to watch the first comment's vote tally fluctuate, anyway.