Posted on 01/30/2006 10:27:35 PM PST by Sweetjustusnow
The two scariest words in the English language? Intelligent Design! That phrase tends to produce a nasty rash and night sweats among our elitist class.
Should some impressionable teenager ever hear those words from a public school teacher, we are led to believe, that student may embrace a secular heresy: that some intelligent force or energy, maybe even a god, rather than Darwinian blind chance, has been responsible for the gazillions of magnificently designed life forms that populate our privileged planet.
Let's not overlook the alternate theory, that Jim Robinson just randomly bans people who show up other people. Why anyone would hang around a forum where they honestly believed that the administrators behave in such a fashion is beyond me, but there you go.
Optics...first rainbow after the flood
I'm reminded of the old cartoon, perhaps it was from the New Yorker, of the guy holding a gun to his own head and threatening a bystander - "Don't laugh, you're next!"
The Clown Wars were started by ALS. I can pretty much remember the day he showed up. He had absolutely nothing to contribute except hate. His goal was not to debate, but to get this topic banned from FR.
I'm not making this up. This was his stated goal. It is the reason he was banned.
Elsie has said the same thing on another thread.
Perhaps we should teach the controversy. On one hand, we have what seems to be clear evidence of a self-inflicted freepicide. On the other hand, we have the theory of "Intelligent Banning" -- or "IB" -- which holds that notwithstanding the crushing weight of evidence, there are invisible influences that guide the destiny of freepers.
You forgot the juvenile graphics. Those were half his schtick.
I am given to understand that JR personally handles long-time posters, that the mods do not ban anyone beyond a certain age. Your beef is with the owner of this site, not his moderators.
Again, I have to emphasize that science has well defined and precide meanings for words. The definitions can be put in different words, different representaitons, but the fundamental meaning must never change. When scientists communicate, they insist on that these terms be adhered to. See this thread.
Re: OODA loops " Certainly this could be one protocol for conducting science. It is similar to other protocols."
The similarity occurs, because this is the fundamental algorithm of steps taken in any intelligent process. Note again that the action can be to simply return to observation.
Re:"It must be universally applicable to any intelligent being. For that to happen. The observables must actually be observable AND not be a function of, and depend on the observer."
"However, Kuhn, amongst others, makes a case that what you observe is influenced by what you expect to see."
Yes, lots of folks inject bias. Bias does not necessarily exist in every instance of observation though. Notice I said, "the observables must ...not be a function of, and depend on the observer." Honesty and an ability to observe the essence of the phenomina is required. That ability is inherent in a sentient, intelligent being.
Re: rational thought " And around we go again."
I think a concise summary is called for. Anything more would be open ended strings of historical listings.
" Has dark matter been seen? Does it exist?"
It exists and is probably the vacuum. It can be and has been seen.
"What's happening on the other side of a dark hole? Does any information ever get out of a dark hole? If we can't see what's on the other side of a dark hole, does the other side exist?"
A black hole is symmetric, so is the moon. Info does leak out of a black hole. The info is present at the surface. Vacuum interaction results in the removal of info by the opposite particle at the surface, while the corresponding info particle flies off into space.
"Almost no one believed in bacteria, until the microscope was developed."
Observaiton is always required for scientific examination of phenomina. Even though the exact nature of "the bugs" weren't know, the procedures needed to avoid transmission of the bugs were known. At least to some. Others stuck with supernatural causes and faulty logic.
"Many tested theories have been discarded or modified as the instrumentation for making observations improved. "
The word hypothesis applies, as does strength of the evidence and so also logic. The strength of any particular theory resides in what is known, not what is not. Both Newton's theory and classical mechanics survived, because of their strength. They are incorporated in the newer, more general theory. The same goes for GR and the general theories that rest on biochemistry.
I don't have a beef with anybody other than the person who posted the BS. That's why I posted to that person.
Have a good day, sir.
If you're going to be angry, it woud be well to be angry at the right person. HAND.
|
Alerting everyong at Darwin Central, even tho I dont post very much, so no one can really miss me, I may be blown away to unknown lands...I am here in Western Washington, where the most dire weather reports have been coming through...we are to hunker down for terrible, strong winds, the likes of which we have not seen in several years...Hurricane force winds may be hitting us...YIKES....I managed to get through the Nisqually earthquake a few years ago, with minor damage, even tho we were sitting almost on top of the epicenter....
Now this, wind gusts possibly in excess of 60miles an hour...Think of me, for the next 12 hours or so...I may be blown away, never to return to Darwin Central...
To make matters even worse, should we survive the storm intact, its possible that the power will be out, due to falling trees(we have tons of huge trees, and the ground is saturated with rain, so they will be more likely to fall)....and if the power remains out for any great length of time, we will miss the Superbowl, and wont be able to watch our Seahawks, trounce the Steelers...
SEND HELP...LOL....heck, just give us a good thought...
By the way, have greatly enjoyed the whole rousing debate of who got who banned, and the conspiracy theories that float around are wild, as conspiracy theories always are...
Your power probably will go out. You'll most likely be offline for a few days. Charge your cell phone now, while you still can. While gas stations have power, fill up your car (but it may be too late to go out and do that). Be prepared to have your fridge defrost. Have a few days' worth of drinking water on hand. All that stuff. It's no fun. But we'll be here when you return. Best of luck.
For many years, Edmund Landau, a German mathematician, had a form letter that looked like this: "Dear Sir/Madam: Your proof of Fermat's Last Theorem has been received. The first mistake is on page _____, line _____." Landau would assign the job of filling in those blanks to one of his students.
I was given the job once as an undergrad. The "proof" would have been too stupid for DI (maybe not for DU!)
Motel; drive to Ellensburg or Yakima. Anything!
Its going to be too good to miss (and sweeter for being so long overdue).
[Back to dispassionate scientist mode; but just until gametime]
I thought the ground there was **always** saturated with rain.
PH's advice is good. Good luck
All great tips..some we have already carried out...lots of drinking water, lots of beer, lots of wine, lots of food, can use our Coleman camping stove to cook, or just hunker down in the RV..filled up both cars and the RV this afternoon...have lots of candles, and those little flashlights that you just wind up...and have radios that wind up as well...thats about all we can do, for now...
I have never been through winds of this velocity...so its just a little scarey to me....I just dont want a tree to split my house in two, and bonk me in the head...
See ya later, I hope..
You know, I never thought about a motel, should the power go out...thanks for that tip....usually for the few times we have lost power, we just wait through it...but you are right, this game is going to be too good to miss...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.