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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Oblique Ascension.
From: Mike Hannibal
Date: 2005 Aug 30, 11:02 +1000
From: Mike Hannibal
Date: 2005 Aug 30, 11:02 +1000
Hi Alexandre, I'll try to avoid the labelsI think that you mistake my point: I agree violently with you about the value that science has delivered. Yes life expectancy increased by about 35 years during the course of last century. Yes we understand the mechanisms of disease in a way we would not otherwise, as we recognise all sorts of other material - DNA and molecular genetics, quantum physics... None of that is at question. I however, to use a label for myself, am not an absolutist. I believe that science is a framework that provides tremendous value for us. It is a useful and effective framework of rules and beliefs. I do not therefore wish to argue aginst the theory of gravitation....a theory is after all an explanation for a phenomenon that an observer describes. In this case the theory, the explanation, fits very well to the observed phenomenon, it has utility. In other cicumstances that may not be so. In other circumstances an alternative framework of explanation may operate with greater utility. We should always have our eyes open to this possibility. Kind regards Mike --- Alexandre E Eremenko wrote: > Mike, > > On Tue, 30 Aug 2005, Mike Hannibal wrote: > > > Hi Alexandre, > > > just the response that you would expect from a > > positivist scientist! > > I don't like to be labeled:-) Frankly speaking... > I hate phoilosophers... with very few exceptions. > > >However I disagree > >entirely - my > > truth is not the same as your truth > > There is no such thing as "your truth" or "my truth" > in this question. > There is THE TRUTH. > Which of the scientifically established truth's you > object specifically? > > Archimedes law? I propose a bet (on any amount you > choose) and we > make a joint experiment in a bathtub to verify that > it is correct. > > Newton's gravitation Law? Same. Or you are always > welcome to test it > by jumping from the window of my office. > > Maybe Kepler Laws? > > Anyway, just tell me what scientific statement looks > doibtful to > you and we will try to test it. > > Alex. > Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com