The scientific community has never resisted change. They're objective, yo!
The issue is scientists can be dogmatic, and "true believers" too (sort of the flip of what you are saying, no?). There are no real "facts", right? And yet you'll hear learned individuals say such tripe as "you cannot go faster than light". And mean it! That's /not/ what science is about. Science isn't about fact, it's about experiment (or something). The sound barrier was a lame example. But there's Rosalyn Yalow (got a Nobel 20 something years after theory being dissed, I guess), Newton's universal law of gravity. Heat as a fluid? Molecular theory of gasses? Continental drift? Mendel's genetics? Michael Polanyi's work with solid whatsit? There's *tons* of Nobel winners who's theories were resisted (sometimes for decades), not on merit, but because of a human trait to resist change (that's crazy talk! Everybody knows you get better by letting the bad blood out! *plops paper into trash*). Hundreds of papers that were turned down, only to become "cornerstones" of science, sometimes as much as half a century later (in rare instances longer!). "Peer review" is an interesting concept. Don't believe too much into it! ;) My point, such as it is, is that we need to beware the one as much as the other. Too easy a belief, too hard a cynic. Thanks to experiment, the only *down* side to a bad theory is it doesn't pan out. What's the down side to ignoring something that would put us that much further on our path to enlightenment? Better to try, and find out (or at least try to find out), than never to try because you don't "believe". Keep an open mind, dude. Even Einstein has been wrong. As for the GPS theory, did you read the comments on that link? Are all those folks just "true believers"? Or do maybe some of them have some good points? Science shouldn't be a popularity contest. :)p |>3|\| "and other cliches" 1 -- In such diffused changes of culture two factors are necessary: contact and understanding. Hu Shih On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 6:19 PM, Larry C. Lyons wrote: > > Maybe but the issue is that despite all the massive amounts of > evidence against it, the true believer dismisses such as a conspiracy > or other some bit of crud. > > As for the sound barrier, that wasn't so much of a scientific one as > an engineering effort. What was needed was the design of a wing that > could withstand the buffeting that happens when crossing that > threshold. First the US with a special built rocket then the British > with an aircraft these engineering issues were solved. Nothing similar > to what is discussed. > > As for the GPS theory, I am sure it was discussed a lot just a month > ago in Portland Oregon. The author of that paper was giving a talk at > the annual ION scientific meeting. > > > On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 4:50 PM, denstar <valliants...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Larry C. Lyons wrote: >>> >>> If you remember what happened with palladium based fusion, there will >>> be some true believers who will try and push it in spite of the >>> contrary data. >> >> If you remember what happened with the Sound Barrier (why is it called >> a barrier again?) and Gödel, you'd still be pushing too. :) >> >> Maybe not "it" specifically, but still. >> >> Has the GPS theory even been corroborated/verified/whatever? Or is >> this a case of "hey, that sound logical, and fits with how I already >> see the universe!"? =)p >> >> :DeN "full of wonder (or something)" Uno >> >> -- >> For all the social changes in China can be traced to their early >> beginnings in the days when the new tools or vehicles of commerce and >> locomotion first brought the Chinese people into unavoidable contact >> with the strange ways and novel goods of the Western peoples. >> Hu Shih >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:343611 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
