Originally posted by Vivid Boy
I don't know whats worse, Religion buffs believeing and talking to an invisible man for answers or Science freaks looking to a living retard for answers.
while we're out putting our total faith towards ridiculous for answers, i think im going to start praying to vin diesel and watch fast and furious to explain lifes great mysteries
Stephen Hawkins isn't the best in his field but he has contributed a lot to how black holes work and the new most popular M-Theory.
Even he acknowledges himself for being famous only because of his disease but without the ability to write and speak for sometime before the voice augmentation machine was given to him, no one could fully understand him so he had to do countless calculations in his brain, that is insane for a person in his field. Looking at a freak for answers is hardly what I am doing. Hawkins is just sort of a sound board that many Ideas and Theories are bounced off of especialy in the media but real life as well. ::smh::
I'm not sure what Hawkin's is, I've seen some early clips were he seemed to have faith in God because he had to be carefull with that question when trying to explain 'The Big Bang Theory'. I suppose it leaves a hole open for creationalist because that is the point God did was he did and what nots. I also heard something early on about he couldn't disprove God but now he has seemed to switch. Google search looks like a disaster to sort through right now, I figure someone in his field would not believe in God but I feel some of this on Google might be right just because, due to the fact someone with his disease was NOT supposed to live even half as long as he has, might have played a factor in his faith but I would have to read 'The Grand Design' (his latest book) to see where he actually stands. I will sort through the Google tomorrow but no need to post but I wonder where he used to stand compared to where he does stand now or if he has alsways stood in the same place. You can go play 'the slow and the curious' with your buddy for all I care.
pkcRAISTLIN
quote:
Originally posted by Vivid Boy
im just sayin when you really look at it, the religious nuts believe in an invisible man and look to him for answers.
You science nuts look towards a in speak and spell for the same .
when you really look at it....you're all whackos.
the difference is science actually provides answers, and demonstrates them in proven technology. Let me know when theists produce a GPS or cell phone system based on the invisible man in the sky rather than proven scientific principles.
quote:
Originally posted by Vivid Boy
theories are proven every few years and disproven the next year..
could you point me to the years where the theory of evolution or general/special theories of relativity were disproven?
srussell0018
quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
could you point me to the years where the theory of evolution or general/special theories of relativity were disproven?
I'm just playing devil's advocate here (I believe you) but that is still technically just a theory, despite it's being widely accepted in most scientific communities.
Desiderata
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
I'm just playing devil's advocate here (I believe you) but that is still technically just a theory, despite it's being widely accepted in most scientific communities.
A Theory in Science has a different meaning than the definition of the word Theory.
"Did you watch the docu. Yukki posted"?
pkcRAISTLIN
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
I'm just playing devil's advocate here (I believe you) but that is still technically just a theory, despite it's being widely accepted in most scientific communities.
;)
quote:
You've been told that "evolution is just a theory", a guess, a hunch, and not a fact, not proven. You've been misled. Keep reading, and in less than two minutes from now you'll know that you've been misinformed. We're not going to try and change your mind about evolution. We just want to point out that "it's just a theory" is not a valid argument.
The Theory of Evolution is a theory, but guess what? When scientists use the word theory, it has a different meaning to normal everyday use.1 That's right, it all comes down to the multiple meanings of the word theory. If you said to a scientist that you didn't believe in evolution because it was "just a theory", they'd probably be a bit puzzled.
In everyday use, theory means a guess or a hunch, something that maybe needs proof. In science, a theory is not a guess, not a hunch. It's a well-substantiated, well-supported, well-documented explanation for our observations.2 It ties together all the facts about something, providing an explanation that fits all the observations and can be used to make predictions. In science, theory is the ultimate goal, the explanation. It's as close to proven as anything in science can be.
Some people think that in science, you have a theory, and once it's proven, it becomes a law. That's not how it works. In science, we collect facts, or observations, we use laws to describe them, and a theory to explain them. You don't promote a theory to a law by proving it. A theory never becomes a law.
This bears repeating. A theory never becomes a law. In fact, if there was a hierarchy of science, theories would be higher than laws. There is nothing higher, or better, than a theory. Laws describe things, theories explain them. An example will help you to understand this. There's a law of gravity, which is the description of gravity. It basically says that if you let go of something it'll fall. It doesn't say why. Then there's the theory of gravity, which is an attempt to explain why. Actually, Newton's Theory of Gravity did a pretty good job, but Einstein's Theory of Relativity does a better job of explaining it. These explanations are called theories, and will always be theories. They can't be changed into laws, because laws are different things. Laws describe, and theories explain.
Just because it's called a theory of gravity, doesn't mean that it's just a guess. It's been tested. All our observations are supported by it, as well as its predictions that we've tested. Also, gravity is real! You can observe it for yourself. Just because it's real doesn't mean that the explanation is a law. The explanation, in scientific terms, is called a theory.
Evolution is the same. There's the fact of evolution. Evolution (genetic change over generations)3 happens, just like gravity does. Don't take my word for it.4 Ask your science teacher, or google it. But that's not the issue we are addressing here. The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is our best explanation for the fact of evolution. It has been tested and scrutinised for over 150 years, and is supported by all the relevant observations.
Next time someone tries to tell you that evolution is just a theory, as a way of dismissing it, as if it's just something someone guessed at, remember that they're using the non-scientific meaning of the word. If that person is a teacher, or minister, or some other figure of authority, they should know better. In fact, they probably do, and are trying to mislead you.5
Evolution is not just a theory, it's triumphantly a theory!
as far as relativity theory goes, every single test that we have done substantiates it, and technology like GPS systems & satellites etc work due to the calculations based on relativity.
as far as relativity theory goes, every single test that we have done substantiates it, and technology like GPS systems & satellites etc work due to the calculations based on relativity.
Do you know how many theories have been proven to be wrong after being widely accepted for quite a long time? (Again, :disbelief )
I'm not saying I don't believe the theories of evolution and relatively, although, and correct me if I'm wrong, hasn't there been some stirring in the astrophysics community of people who have either claimed to, or have offered alternative theories to the theory of relativity?
pkcRAISTLIN
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
Do you know how many theories have been proven to be wrong after being widely accepted for quite a long time? (Again, :disbelief )
Nope, perhaps you can count them for me? ;) most scientific theories are merely amended or improved, not disregarded entirely. Ie newton’s laws of gravity are great in certain conditions, but einstein’s theories of relativity offer a more complete picture of how gravity works. Nobody is claiming that theories are infallible of course, its just that they’re not “just a theory”.
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
I'm not saying I don't believe the theories of evolution and relatively, although, and correct me if I'm wrong, hasn't there been some stirring in the astrophysics community of people who have either claimed to, or have offered alternative theories to the theory of relativity?
Im not exactly an expert on theoretical physics. But yes, there are cranks in every walk of life but until they can actually prove their work (like we’ve done with relativity) I don’t see them having any influence in the field generally.
srussell0018
quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
Im not exactly an expert on theoretical physics. But yes, there are cranks in every walk of life but until they can actually prove their work (like we’ve done with relativity) I don’t see them having any influence in the field generally.
Relativity hasn't exactly been proven. It's just the currently accepted theory which fits best. That doesn't necessarily mean it's true.
Desiderata
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
Relativity hasn't exactly been proven. It's just the currently accepted theory which fits best. That doesn't necessarily mean it's true.
source to this, please.
Desiderata
Couldn't find part 2. meh.
Nrg2Nfinit
The stupidest thing to say about a scientific theory is that it is just a "theory"
"theory" in science doesn't mean a thought or a ponder. It means something that is testable with expected results attained with a certain confidence, usually over 95% or even 100%.
So the idiocy of people who say "just a theory" is aggrivating to say the least.
The theory of god creating the world in 6 days and the theory of the world being close to 4.3 billion years give or take a couple of hundred million years are two totally analogus terms - 1 being complete and utter bull delusion and the other being theoretically accurate as per radiometric dating repsectively.
Theory in science is much more then just an idea. The word you're thinking of is hypothesis. Don't get the two mixed up even if one is a precursor to the other.
pkcRAISTLIN
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
Relativity hasn't exactly been proven. It's just the currently accepted theory which fits best. That doesn't necessarily mean it's true.
So, systems like GPS’ and satellites just happen to work based precisely on calculations from relativity? That’s an extraordinary coincidence don’t you think? Time dilation has also been proven in experiments with aircraft.
Sure, something may come along in the future that alters relativity in the way relativity improved on newton’s gravity laws, but the theories of relativity are proven in as much as we can ever prove anything.
