On 9/6/07, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: .... > > it up for questions at the end, and a fellow student asks: "Is faster > > than > > light > > travel possible?"- to which the Scientist says "No- this isn't star- > > trek"!! > > It's a common misconception but science has no responsibility to be "open > minded". Science follows the evidence.
First off, there is no such thing as "proof"- well, there are things called "proofs", but even they aren't supposed to be some kind of "hard" deal- It's more like "up until this point, these things have gone this way"- no "hardness" to it, no incontrovertible "proof" or "evidence". Just stuff that, until this point, has been this way. > Right now there is no evidence - not the tiniest, smallest thread - that > faster than light travel is possible. A better answer would have been "No, > there's no evidence" but "No" works as well. Bullshit. No is final. Science is NOT final. It's an ever growing, ever changing (even if it takes a while) field of research. A better answer would be "up to this point, we haven't found a way to do it- maybe YOU'LL be the one to do it!" yup, something like that. And since then, there's been ALL KINDS of CRAZY, reproducible experiments- tunneling, as you say, quantum entanglement, photons getting through substances that photons "shouldn't" be able to get through. Slowing down light, speeding up light- you'd be pretty silly now to subscribe to the idea that it's impossible, or even not very likely. We've "teleported" freaking photons for christ's sake! > There are possibilities - far-out, imaginative, off-the-wall inventive > possibilities that DO have some evidence. Wormholes, n-dimensional travel, > string folding, etc - all theoretical, all being studied. But as far as a > high school class is concerned faster than light travel is impossible (again > "impossible with our current level of understanding"). Bah. I hate "impossible", especially where "Science" is concerned. Hell, I remember when breaking the sound barrier was "impossible". If you think something is "impossible", are you really going to try to challenge that belief? > It's a sad misconception that science should be inclusive and accepting and > all of that. Well, it shouldn't be: science follows the evidence. Sorta. What about ESP and those types of experiments, that, as far as I'm concerned, have shown that there's "something" happening? Yet how much respect does that field of research get? Is it because of lack of "something is going on"? No. Not if the experiments are to be believed- and these were "real" institutions doing the research, using triple blinds and whatnot.... eh. Inconclusive, but not discountable. IMO. > Of course there's another option: maybe the guy that spoke to your class was > an asshole. Of course he was an asshole!- he was talking to a group of young, savvy HS kids- and not trying to inspire anything that didn't fit in his world view. That's lame, as it's those peoples responsibility to encourage thought. > Science is made up of people: some of which are ignorant, stupid, racist, > stubborn or whatever. > > Science, as a field of endeavor, is designed to minimize the impact of those > people. Peer review, the scientific method, free information exchange: all > of that designed to allow the evidence (more specifically good evidence) to > eventually rise to the top. Yeah, but sadly scientists are just people too, and suffer from the same stuff that "normal" people suffer from. I mean, what about the "FACT" that just by observing something, we are effecting (or is that affecting? bwahahaha) things. It's IMPOSSIBLE to see how things REALLY ARE, ya know? What kind of a wrench does that throw into the whole kit and caboodle? And many times it's been eureka moments- sometimes it's two people in separate parts of the world, w/ no contact WSE, having the same Eureka! I love the fact that we really don't know WTF is going on, and think it's funny that because we drop an apple today, we "know" what gravity is or whatever. I take it all with a grain of salt, basically- we're a funny, funny consciousness, or whatever the heck we are- Challenge everything, take nothing for granted, etc., etc.. individual / group, Nietzsche and willpower, etc.. so much fun!!! To each their own, but don't DON'T try to discourage someone because you think things are a certain way. Excelsior! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get involved in the latest ColdFusion discussions, product development sharing, and articles on the Adobe Labs wiki. http://labs/adobe.com/wiki/index.php/ColdFusion_8 Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:242123 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
