Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!hao!oddjob!mimsy!aplcen!aplcomm!stdc.jhuapl.edu!jwm From: jwm@stdc.jhuapl.edu (James W. Meritt) Newsgroups: sci.misc Subject: Re: science is STILL religion Message-ID: <121@aplcomm.UUCP> Date: 17 Mar 88 14:38:56 GMT References: <73600013@uiucdcsp> <124@heart-of-gold> Sender: news@aplcomm.UUCP Reply-To: jwm@stdc.jhuapl.edu.UUCP (James W. Meritt) Organization: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Lines: 78 In article <124@heart-of-gold> jc@heart-of-gold (John M Chambers x7780 1E342) writes: >> I used to think that. A seminary student I once knew suggested to >> me that maybe people really led better lives in the middle ages. >> I thought he was crazy. >Some of them did. Kings, princes, bishops, .... The rest didn't. Show me a middle-ages king with central heating/air conditioning! Show me a middle-ages bishop with a morning cup of coffee! Show me a middle-ages prince with usenet! The purpose of civilization is to keep me comfortable and entertained. ;~) >Nonsense. An important part of any science is taking the current theories >and using them to make predictions (or postdictions, in this case) to the >point of absurdity. This is commonly known at "testing to destruction", >and it can be very effective. Unlike religions, science doesn't insist >that its practitioners always be right. Just testable. A lot of us make a living trying to prove other wrong..... >> And my argument to support both assertions is that discussions >> about this primordial instant can only be so much nonsense. Why? >> because we don't even know about the world around us (witness >> high Tc superconductivity--there is even talk now of a fifth force!!!!!) >> So how on earth :-) can someone pontificate about a time billions >> of years distant, at densities of matter never otherwise attained, >> and when the whole fabric of the universe was small enough to dance on the >> head of an extra-universal pin. And isn't it terrific!!!! People keep learning things, investigating, and generally exploring!!! There is always something else!!! >> Any physicist who seriously proposes that the laws >> of physics as observed from earth are just as valid then and there >> as they are here should be shot. Such discussion is, as science, absurd, >> but as religion, right at home. I am wide open on counter suggestions. This might shock you, but there are a few.... BTW: heard of "cosmic strings"? >> I would put at a higher priority: superconductivity, >> peace in the middle east, truth, justice, better networks, parallel >> computing, .... >Oh, right! If we wait for these things to happen, we'll see the sun >cooling down first. Well, maybe superconductivity and parallel computing; I'll bite: what's "justice"? You want religion? REligion is why they are fighting in the middle east!!! Cancel "religion" and substitute "science" and maybe they will. Just for fun, why is "superconductivity" high priority than "justice"? >Some of them are sufficiently arrogant to have made the calculations. And >some of them just might be correct. Ya wanna hear about the super-conducting >earth-size diamond that may be the core of Jupiter? How about the reasons >why Jupiter (and possibly Saturn) may be the home of most of the life in the >solar system? Now if we could only get funding to go out and test these and >other absurdities... What is "absurdities"? Fortunately, the universe is not bounded by what you imagine. In fact, it probably isn't bounded by what you CAN imagine! (Isn't that lucky? P.S. I include every human being in the "can imagine" category. Don't take it personal!) Disclaimer: Individuals have opinions, organizations have policy. Therefore, these opinions are mine and not any organizations! Q.E.D. jwm@aplvax.jhuapl.edu 128.244.65.5