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shawnmmcc
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Kid - thanks. Now I understand what you are doing, and can try to get you to see a structural flaw in what you are doing. You are getting into the Social Sciences, and I have been editing papers for those for 15 years now - plus I went through what would have been an Associates degree in psych myself just for jollies, I was on a scholarship at the time.
Your "gut feeling" is going to be a largely emotional reaction, and will in part become influenced as much, if not more, by presentation as by the facts. That is what modern attack ads and political campaigns rely on. Most people do what you are doing.
Your gut feeling is also going to be largely influenced by your childhood. How religious/spiritual was it? I have a gut feeling that the world is unfair, and terrible things can happen at any time to those you love. From my posting about my family, I suspect you can understand the context. Yet, in the case of my little girl, I MUST not let that lead me to overprotecting her, an admittedly strong tendency.
To use a "Gut Feeling" to make a rational decision, i.e. "Luke, use the force" is one of the worst misapplications of the cognitive processes around. You use a gut feeling when deciding who to trust, who to date, etc. I ignored my gut feeling when the FAA forced my transfer 10 years ago and rented my house to a jerk that did thousands of dollars of damage that I couldn't recover. The flaw of misapplying the cognitive function and not going with the intuiotive, gut feeling.
You are making a misapplication in the opposite direction. It would be like programming via a "gut feeling". A processor doesn't give a rats ass about your gut feeling - you write bad code, it doesn't work. The same applies to making judgements about the validity of science.
Your reaction, to pull out of the thread, is the right one if that is how you are going to approach scientific discourse. The majority of the people here understand the use of reason in the realms of science, and all that will happen is frustration on all sides. Thanks for continuing to try to explain where you were coming from. But keep this in mind, Kid.
They have been doing some studies on people and politics. Today's politicians and political operatives WANT people like you. They can use speeches, attack adds, emotional appeals, and all the other tools in their arsenal to keep you voting with whichever party you identify with, while not serviing your interests. That is why the political debates here get so acrimonious - the intuitive - do I trust this politician - and the rational - do his policies and record represent what I believe in - will inevitably cross in that area, and people will argue until they are blue, or red, in the face.
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Guynemer
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The Onion weighs in:
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4133&n=2
quote:
Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory
KANSAS CITY, KS—As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday in this embattled Midwestern state. Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held "theory of gravity" is flawed, and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.
"Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down," said Gabriel Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics from Oral Roberts University.
Burdett added: "Gravity—which is taught to our children as a law—is founded on great gaps in understanding. The laws predict the mutual force between all bodies of mass, but they cannot explain that force. Isaac Newton himself said, 'I suspect that my theories may all depend upon a force for which philosophers have searched all of nature in vain.' Of course, he is alluding to a higher power."
Founded in 1987, the ECFR is the world's leading institution of evangelical physics, a branch of physics based on literal interpretation of the Bible.
According to the ECFR paper published simultaneously this week in the International Journal Of Science and the adolescent magazine God's Word For Teens!, there are many phenomena that cannot be explained by secular gravity alone, including such mysteries as how angels fly, how Jesus ascended into Heaven, and how Satan fell when cast out of Paradise.
The ECFR, in conjunction with the Christian Coalition and other Christian conservative action groups, is calling for public-school curriculums to give equal time to the Intelligent Falling theory. They insist they are not asking that the theory of gravity be banned from schools, but only that students be offered both sides of the issue "so they can make an informed decision."
"We just want the best possible education for Kansas' kids," Burdett said.
Proponents of Intelligent Falling assert that the different theories used by secular physicists to explain gravity are not internally consistent. Even critics of Intelligent Falling admit that Einstein's ideas about gravity are mathematically irreconcilable with quantum mechanics. This fact, Intelligent Falling proponents say, proves that gravity is a theory in crisis.
"Let's take a look at the evidence," said ECFR senior fellow Gregory Lunsden."In Matthew 15:14, Jesus says, 'And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.' He says nothing about some gravity making them fall—just that they will fall. Then, in Job 5:7, we read, 'But mankind is born to trouble, as surely as sparks fly upwards.' If gravity is pulling everything down, why do the sparks fly upwards with great surety? This clearly indicates that a conscious intelligence governs all falling."
Critics of Intelligent Falling point out that gravity is a provable law based on empirical observations of natural phenomena. Evangelical physicists, however, insist that there is no conflict between Newton's mathematics and Holy Scripture.
"Closed-minded gravitists cannot find a way to make Einstein's general relativity match up with the subatomic quantum world," said Dr. Ellen Carson, a leading Intelligent Falling expert known for her work with the Kansan Youth Ministry. "They've been trying to do it for the better part of a century now, and despite all their empirical observation and carefully compiled data, they still don't know how."
"Traditional scientists admit that they cannot explain how gravitation is supposed to work," Carson said. "What the gravity-agenda scientists need to realize is that 'gravity waves' and 'gravitons' are just secular words for 'God can do whatever He wants.'"
Some evangelical physicists propose that Intelligent Falling provides an elegant solution to the central problem of modern physics.
"Anti-falling physicists have been theorizing for decades about the 'electromagnetic force,' the 'weak nuclear force,' the 'strong nuclear force,' and so-called 'force of gravity,'" Burdett said. "And they tilt their findings toward trying to unite them into one force. But readers of the Bible have already known for millennia what this one, unified force is: His name is Jesus."
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17-08-2005 02:44
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