Starship Asterisk*

Plasma Cosmology, Nereid. And before you will ask me to explain how it fits the new theories I will ask you how it doesn't fit the new theories. No, we will ask you (as the proponent of an alternative "theory") to tell us why PC does a better job of explaining our observations than the st...

=Chris - Nobody has done that to the satisfaction of most scientists.

Because the programming will not allow that to easily happen.

Nereid wrote: Did I say that? If so, where? (specific quote from a post I wrote please).

"Plasma Cosmology is not science."

the day is bright - the sun is shining - I'm leaving this computer.

What " alternative theories supported by the new evidence " are there, Sputnick? Plasma Cosmology, Nereid. And before you will ask me to explain how it fits the new theories I will ask you how it doesn't fit the new theories. So is quantum mechanics " too unshakably programmed into t...

The jury is still out on that, but the good thing is it forces the proponents of string theory to work extra hard finding ways to make it scientific. The jury is still out on Dark Matter and Big Bang too, Chris, but you have left the courtroom in your haste to announce the news that they are realit...

=Nereid Chris P will, no doubt, write his own response ... mine is as follows: what is the relationship between Kant's writing (on island universes) and science? Page 125 from the oft and should be read book - "Island universes (Galaxies) "A concept contemplated by the great German philos...

"The cosmologically important 'missing mass' problem may not be related to mass. It may be a missing the point problem ... ... the nature of farm from equilirbrium processess ... ... illusion of stability ... ..." Gerrit Verschurr "Galaxies and quasars are being found that form too e...

Nereid wrote:

Sputnick wrote:Sorry Chris .. but I see your viewpoints as arcahic.

Let's see now ...

Sorry Sputnick ... but I see your viewpoints as uninformed.

Hmm ... doesn't help much, does it?

Yes it does help .. with no disrespect meant I see more clearly your view as biased towards the concensus.

Again, you misunderstand the scientific process. New observations result in the refinement of theories. Refinement? "All things can be explained by fudging." (A quote overheard at a scientific conference). Your example demonstrates that science works, not that it doesn't. A failure would ...

No philosopher has ever been proven right about anything. Philosophy deals with subjects that are inherently beyond demonstration. Philosophers can only argue about opinions Emmanuel Kant was proven correct about his island universes - galaxies .. Emmanuel Kant was a philosopher - therefore your an...

Fritz Zwicky - Morphological Approach "If a possibility exists nature will carry it out and scientists should discover it." Sounds like a mangled version of the ergodic principle; I rather doubt Zwicky intended this to mean what you clearly take it to mean (an example of a strawman argume...

I hope posting this here is not seen as spamming, as I may have posted it elsewhere already. "Gerrit Verschurr - "The cosmologically important "missing mass" problem may not be related to mass. It may be a missing the point problem ... ... ... ... the nature of 'far from equilibr...

No philosopher has ever been proven right about anything. Philosophy deals with subjects that are inherently beyond demonstration. Philosophers can only argue about opinions Emmanuel Kant was proven correct about his island universes - galaxies .. Emmanuel Kant was a philosopher - therefore your an...

Observations with advancing instruments are revealing far more matter on the thin edges of the spiral galaxies .. this matter including huge numbers of stars too faint to be seen previously, and considerably thickening (the mass of) the spirals. Other suggestions as to what Dark Matter consists of a...

And here's the other thing: how many (millions of) " assumptions or insights or hunches " have not panned out? I ask again (with clearer language) the unanwered question I put to you, "Why let history see you (you personally Nereid) on the wrong side of those (astronomical) debates w...

Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin - "If science as I know it can be described in a few words, it might be called a search for the unseen." Ira Bowen, head of the Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar observatories - "I"m sorry to disappoint you, but there's nothing that wone can do with long wav...

Fritz Zwicky - Morphological Approach "If a possibility exists nature will carry it out and scientists should discover it." Are we on APOD to be allowed to discuss Zwicky's possibilities (like the dreaded Plasma Cosmology)? Prdjudice comes in even with Zwicky, who refused to believe in clu...

"The cosmologically important 'missing mass' problem may not be related to mass. It may be a missing the point problem ... ... the nature of farm from equilirbrium processess ... ... illusion of stability ... ..." Gerrit Verschurr "Galaxies and quasars are being found that form too ea...

Sorry Chris .. but I see your viewpoints as arcahic.

It seems, to me, that you've created something new here, "truth", or "truths" (and also "untruths"). You've also, logically, determined that all "truths" are absurd ... after all, you began with this: all possibilities are possible which leads to this possibi...

=Nereid
I doubt that they "prove" anything ("proof" is not possible in science, except, perhaps, as defined by Sputnick).

Proof is certainly possible, Nereid. We know the moon is not made of green cheese because scientists have been there.

I hope this is post is found in the right forum .. I encountered some computer trouble while composing it .. lost internet connection .. etc. However, I think it's a bit of a stretch from some examples plucked from a book on the history of astronomy to " you [Chris and Nereid] have forgotten th...

Science is what scientists do. What do scientists do? They develop and test theories. What methods do they use to develop and test theories? While there is much in common across the sciences, there is also much that is different; 'the scientific method' is rather a set of overlapping methods, with ...

Hmm ... is the Moon made of green cheese? Surely you've heard of alternate universes where humans are replaced my micemen and micewomen? Is there water ice on the moon? Probably or possibly. Therefore could fungus grow on the moon? Possibly. (A two mile deep Antarctic ice core brought up bacteria) ...

It is important to realize that the process of expanding scientific knowledge (but not science itself) is competitive . Without competition, it wouldn't really work. Did you ever watch Sesame Street Chris? Co-operation works far better than competition .. because competition creates jealousy and an...