Posted on 10/03/2009 8:26:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Immanuel Velikovsky was too eminent a scholar to be dismissed outright as a kook, and he counted some respected people among his friends... Nevertheless, his Catastrophism was rejected outright by a scientific establishment that couldn't stomach an interdisciplinary challenge to its dogmatic Uniformitarianism, even after Velikovsky's predictions about the temperature of Venus and radio activity from Jupiter were proven true.
Stephen Jay Gould summed up mainstream scientific opinion, saying, "Velikovsky is neither crank nor charlatan -- although to state my opinion and to quote one of my colleagues, he is at least gloriously wrong ... Velikovsky would rebuild the science of celestial mechanics to save the literal accuracy of ancient legends." Velikovsky would counter that "the ancient traditions are our best guide to the appearance and arrangement of the earliest remembered solar system, not some fancy computer's retrocalculations based upon current understanding of astronomical principles."
(Excerpt) Read more at freedominion.com.pa ...
“The Origins of Consiousness in the Bicameral Mind”...one of the deepest books I’ve ever read. Sagan’s “The Dragons of Eden” is right there also.
July 8, 1946
Dear Mr. Velikovsky:
I have read the whole book about the planet Venus. There is much of interest in the book which proves that in fact catastrophes have taken place which must be attributed to extraterrestrial causes. However it is evident to every sensible physicist that these catastrophes can have nothing to do with the planet Venus and that also the direction of the inclination of the terrestrial axis towards the ecliptic could not have undergone a considerable change without the total destruction of the entire earths crust. Your arguments in this regard are so weak as opposed to the mechanical-astronomical ones, that no expert will be able to take them seriously. It were best in my opinion if you would in this way revise your books, which contain truly valuable material. If you cannot decide on this, then what is valuable in your deliberations will become ineffective, and it may be difficult finding a sensible publisher who would take the risk of such a heavy fiasco upon himself.
I tell you this in writing and return to you your manuscript, since I will not be free on the considered days.
With friendly greetings, also to your daughter,
Your
Albert Einstein
http://www.varchive.org/cor/einstein/460708ev.htm
It seems apparent that academia and the Scientific Community are in a symbiotic relationship with government funding and dinomedia propagandists, not to mention the gatekeepers at scientific journals. To what purpose is the question I have. What is there to gain by stifling dissent from the collective conventional wisdom of the scientific cabal? Mostly a rhetorical question I've been asking for years. I'm sure there are some "indsiders" on this forum that have a pretty good idea concerning the whys of this scam but I've yet to see a reasonable answer.
Just wondering out loud if the modern day scientific cabal is Galileo's Catholic Church? Their "religious dogma" has to be protected at all costs? Is this about power? Prestige? Seems unlikely it's just about $$$'s.
BTW Civ, nice workaround on getting this article posted. ;^)
Thanks for the ping. I’ll always respect Velikovsky, the vast range of his knowledge base and the independence of his thought amaze me, and have for decades since I first read his popular books.
“Government science” has really given itself a black eye with the global warming idiocy.
What? You tellin’ me somthin’....???
Velikovsky’s Ghost Returns
http://www.thunderbolts.info/velikovsky-ghost.htm
essay excerpt:
“A costly misunderstanding of planetary history must now be corrected. The misunderstanding arose from fundamental errors within the field of cosmology, the ‘queen’ of the theoretical sciences. Mainstream cosmologists, whether trained as physicists, mathematicians, or astronomers, consider gravity to be the controlling force in the heavens. From this assumption arose the doctrine of eons-long solar system stability-the belief that under the rule of gravity the nine planets have moved on their present courses since the birth of the solar system. Seen from this vantage point, the ancient fear of the planets can only appear ludicrous.
“We challenge this modern belief. We contend that humans once saw planets suspended as huge spheres in the heavens. Immersed in the charged particles of a dense plasma, celestial bodies ‘spoke’ electrically and plasma discharge produced heaven-spanning formations above the terrestrial witnesses. In the imagination of the ancient myth-makers, the planets were alive: they were the gods, the ruling powers of the sky-awe inspiring, often capricious, and at times wildly destructive.”
It has been said that no great advance has ever been made without controversy. More than 5 decades after the Velikovsky firestorm, questions first posed by Velikovsky can no longer be ignored. At stake here is not just the billions of dollars NASA has wasted chasing chimeras, but the very integrity of scientific exploration. Also at stake is the ability of the sciences to attract and inspire new generations. And nothing is more inspirational than a sense of being on the edge of discovery.
No matter the outcome of this long-standing battle, the time of reckoning is at hand. The voice of Velikovsky’s ghost WILL be heard.
LINK TO FULL TEXT: EARTH IN UPHEAVAL
http://www.archive.org/stream/earthupheaval010880mbp/earthupheaval010880mbp_djvu.txt
Thanks for your vote of confidence!!
I bet you have some interesting views of religions, too!
Ain’t life grand?
He came to the (wrong) conclusion that human societies had evolved into a state of being guided by systems of what he called "auditory hallucinations" and I assume this was because he was limiting his view to an age from around the Exodus to about the time just prior to Alexander.
What he DIDN'T consider was the true antediluvian age as described in Genesis and by Plato and other classical authors, and whether the scheme he had discovered might in fact have been the normal basis of workable human communications prior to the event associated with the tower of Babel. In other words, there is reason to think that human "language" pror to the flood and the tower of Babel was basically telepathic.
Thanks Fred. It occurs to me after seeing your post, my previous statement about having read Ages in Chaos is inaccurate. I in fact have not read AIC, but WIC and EIU. I’m sure you’ve read Ages in Chaos; any thoughts on it?
“...Im sure youve read Ages in Chaos; any thoughts on it?
It’s a three-course meal...WIC,EiU,AiC.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12603312/agesinchaosvolum008120mbp
AGES IN CHAOS. A fascinating read.
Serious scholars who have followed in Velikovsky’s footsteps over the past 50 years despite the cost have split into two major groups, i.e. the group associated with the kronia.com and thunder bolts.info websites and who are primarily interested in reconstructing the antediluvian history of the world and particularly the question of the antique Saturn/Jupiter system, and then the group centered more in NY and Europe which is more interested in the sort of question involved in Ages in Chaos. The principle players in that later group are Gunnar Heinsohn, Emmet Sweeney, and Charles Ginenthal. The conclusion they have come to is that Velikovsky erred on the side of sticking with bible chronologies and did not reduce the accepted chronologies as much as is indicated.
The principle players in that later group are Gunnar Heinsohn, Emmet Sweeney, and Charles Ginenthal. The conclusion they have come to is that Velikovsky erred on the side of sticking with bible chronologies and did not reduce the accepted chronologies as much as is indicated.Also in that group is Jesse Laskin.
Shh! It’s a secret. ;’)
Thanks!
It never occurred to me to look for an online copy. MORE reading! Thanks, I think...
Wow, you’re seriously into V’s work! Who knew??? From what little I’ve learned of the man, he seems to have been a free spirit that let his well documented research into the earliest accounts of Man’s encounters with the elements lead him where they may. Good on him! I gather his defenders never wavered and in fact their ranks have even blossomed over the years. Somewhere V’s spirit is smiling.
:’) My interest goes back into the 1970s; Dr V died in, hmm, 1979 or 1980, so not long after my first reading of his books. IMHO his Ages In Chaos series is much more important, and should have been published first, just as its existence preceded that of WiC, and in fact led to it.
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