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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 04/21/2002 : 17:48:18
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I will cheerfully admit that what I know about the Big Bang theory will fit in less than a hollow tooth. It's pretty far out of my stumbling field of endevor (I stumble, not the endevor).
Here is something I found at the Anomalist. It's seems to me as a classic example of the way science works. Statements and dissention, and investigation are the basis of aquiring knowledge.
A good read. Wish I'd caught the first part and I'll look for it tomorrow.
http://www.anomalist.com/gonzoscience/bang2.html
f
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."--Benjamin Franklin, _Poor_Richard_, 1758
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2002 : 20:15:02 [Permalink]
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I don't know all that much about the theories in question either, but the article does not read like a perfect example of how science is supposed to work.
It starts out with ideolgy. I don't like what the Big Bang theory implies so...
That is not good science. You don't judge theories by those standars.
Then there is that whole we are right, but we are suppressed thing that he has going on. It is still possible that what he is describing is actually going on, but it tend to get a bit carefull when someone claims that he is being suppressed by the scientific community.
I have no idea about the theories in question themselves, but they all appear to hinge on one unexplained detail being off in a theory that fits together remarkably well. Another bad sign.
There also is the sorce of the article. I just took a quick glance at the folder the article was in.
http://www.anomalist.com/gonzoscience/
I did not read all the ariticles in question just picked a few.
There were two articles about Velikovsky that are not completly ignorant, but still leave a strage aftertaste.
There is one article urging us to be more openminded about Homepathy.
And at the top is an article warning us of the dangers of skepticism.
The whole things appers very scientific but a bit 'to openminded' to me.
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2002 : 20:55:08 [Permalink]
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My scientist friends have suggested that, for scientific accuracy, I should always visit peer-reviewed scientific sites (.edu, .gov and .NASA, etc., in their URLs) when I want dependable scientific information. There are many reasons for rejecting certain theories. The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) has done away with most of the competing theories in short shrift.
I would suggest Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial which has a number of sub-categories
about cosmology errors attached thereto, with details, as follows:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/errors.html
The Cosmology Tutorial (and other tutorials from UCLA) can be reached at this site:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmolog.htm
Also, the accelerating universe sites:
Supernova Cosmology Project:
http://www-supernova.lbl.gov/
and the Hi-Z Supernova Search:
www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/supernova/HighZ.html" target="_blank">http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/supernova/HighZ.html
both add to the Big Bang theory.
There is the BOOMERANG site:
http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~boomerang/
and the MAXIMA site:
http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/group/cmb/
I think that there are few data which substantiate the detractors. The detractors simply, in one fell swoop, negate all of the data which substantiate the Big Bang.
ljbrs
"Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error." Goethe |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2002 : 05:37:53 [Permalink]
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quote:
My scientist friends have suggested that, for scientific accuracy, I should always visit peer-reviewed scientific sites (.edu, .gov and .NASA, etc., in their URLs) when I want dependable scientific information.
A top-level-domain like .EDU or .GOV does not nesscerraly indicate peer-review. Theý just indicate that computer at the other and is in an institute of EDUcation or belongs to an GOVernment aganency. Many of the sites in the EDU domain are private homepages by students and just because information is provided by the government does not mean that it is scientific correct.
To see this for yourself you can do a google search on the TLD with the appropite keywords. Example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ufo+site:.edu
Many student homepages about UFO's are returned not all of them scientific accurate.
Another example of how little the EDU suffix means are alone the names of domains like http://www.homeopathy.edu/ . Do you expect scientific accurate information here?
Using .EDU and .GOV as indicator also makes you ignore many web-publications that are peer-reviewed but reside in the ORG or COM TLD. And don't get me started on all the non-US Webpages. EDU and GOV are mostly reserved for US institutions.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2002 : 08:42:16 [Permalink]
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Great!
But I think even the most outragous statements, if they apply to something as huge and mysterous as the Cosmos are worth at least a glance of investigation. That glance might thourghly debunk the statement, yet open another field on the perhiphery. Wonderful! sez I.
(chuckle) I thought I had a crop circle last week, but it was only some puff ball mushrooms. Ah well. They were very tasty.
f
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."--Benjamin Franklin, _Poor_Richard_, 1758
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2002 : 12:15:42 [Permalink]
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Hmmm...
Looks like the codes are slightly different. Now I just have to figure out how to edit my posts.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2002 : 13:26:03 [Permalink]
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Hi Wiley and welcome!
Thanks for the input. I'll check it out
f
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."--Benjamin Franklin, _Poor_Richard_, 1758
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2002 : 17:40:36 [Permalink]
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Hello Wiley, welcome.
I see, (yes I check these things), you're...you're from BOULDER!? Question. How do you deal with some of the nuttyness there?
---
...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2002 : 08:18:06 [Permalink]
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quote:
Hello Wiley, welcome.
I see, (yes I check these things), you're...you're from BOULDER!? Question. How do you deal with some of the nuttyness there?
Thanks for the welcome, y'all. And, yes, sometimes it feels like I'm the only person in Boulder with critical thinking skills.
About two years ago, on my first real trip to Boulder, I stopped a restaurant to pick up some coffee for our real estate agent, the future ex-Mrs. Wiley, and myself. As I entered the owner and her friend were discussing her dream where she saw her friend's aura. The aura was apparently light blue and green except for a dark purple spot about her heart. She started to cleanse her friends aura, trying to remove the dark spot.
To put this in perspective, I am an ex-pat southerner, the biscuit makin' and grit eatin' kind. Racial and religious intolerance I can handle. New age mysticism throws me. Looking back I should've told them, "You can't really cleanse an aura unless you use this crystal blessed by the Dhali Lama, which I happen to have. Yours for only $99.95."
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2002 : 10:30:24 [Permalink]
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quote:
Thanks for the welcome, y'all. And, yes, sometimes it feels like I'm the only person in Boulder with critical thinking skills.
I think Rocky Mountain Skeptics are HQd in Boulder. Yeah, New Age wackiness runs rampant in Boulder. You do realize that Boulder isn't really part of CO? We Coloradans don't claim any knowledge of that place, except the observatory/planetarium on campus.
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2002 : 15:55:55 [Permalink]
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quote:
"...You do realize that Boulder isn't really part of CO? We Coloradans don't claim any knowledge of that place, except the observatory/planetarium on campus."
This is true. I believe California proclaims Boulder as a province, or in their P.C. terms, a "Western New Age Harmonic Land Island Convergence." However, the Astronomy department at the University is a separate Colorado entity. Also, there's an excellent sushi restaurant called Zan Mai, which is worth a visit.
"Speaking without thinking like shooting without aiming." - Charlie Chan |
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2002 : 17:06:43 [Permalink]
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quote:
I think Rocky Mountain Skeptics are HQd in Boulder. Yeah, New Age wackiness runs rampant in Boulder. You do realize that Boulder isn't really part of CO? We Coloradans don't claim any knowledge of that place, except the observatory/planetarium on campus.
I suppose y'all in Denver (I check too) think of the PRB as
I.) the expensive place to stop for gas on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park.
B.) the suburb with better restaurants.
3.) the place where upper middle class white kids riot - the Man does a lot of hasslin' around here.
:)
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2002 : 17:07:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Also, there's an excellent sushi restaurant called Zan Mai, which is worth a visit.
Good idea. I know what I'm doin' for dinner tonight.
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2002 : 14:27:49 [Permalink]
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quote:
quote:
I think Rocky Mountain Skeptics are HQd in Boulder. Yeah, New Age wackiness runs rampant in Boulder. You do realize that Boulder isn't really part of CO? We Coloradans don't claim any knowledge of that place, except the observatory/planetarium on campus.
I suppose y'all in Denver (I check too) think of the PRB as
I.) the expensive place to stop for gas on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park.
B.) the suburb with better restaurants.
3.) the place where upper middle class white kids riot - the Man does a lot of hasslin' around here.
:)
Actually, besides working at Exabyte for four months - I avoid Boulder if I can. To get to Rocky Mountain National Park, take I-25 to the Loveland exit and take Hwy 7 into whatever the name of that little town is, where the highway either goes to RMNP by way of the old Uranium mines or through Estes. (See I can avoid Boulder) Also, you can go through Blackhawk (I don't remember the name of the road) by taking the road that runs right in front of the High School. That dumps into the road that goes in front of the uranium mines.
Well, since I don't go through Boulder, I don't eat there either. I will admit to going up to the Art Warehouse in the old Boulder city (southwest side of campus). That's a den of New Age wackiness - but they have all the art supplies I'll ever need to consider buying.
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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Wiley
Skeptic Friend
68 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2002 : 16:01:40 [Permalink]
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quote:
Actually, besides working at Exabyte for four months - I avoid Boulder if I can.
When did you work for Exabyte? My office is just across the street from them. And, boy howdy, is their parking lot empty. For the non-Coloradans who are still following this thread, Exabyte is in the toilet; you can pick up a significant amount of shares by scrounging your sofa for change. The land the company is on is worth a helluva lot more than the company itself.
Oh, and anybody care to join in the New Age Wickedness fun:
http://www.naropa.edu/
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