RE: Can we ever know truth?

From: Stathis Papaioannou <stathispapaioannou.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:38:03 +1000

John M writes:

> When did you last learn that the tenets of ongoing
> physics are only "provisionally" accepted as 'real'?
> (I just wanted to tease members of this list.
> Of course on THIS list 'thinking' people gathered and
> such thoughts are not unusual. We are the exception.)
>
> An example is the Big Bang. Many scientists almost put
> it into their evening prayer. Doubting is heresy.
> This is why I scrutinize what we 'believe in' and try
> alternate narratives: do they hold water? Are the new
> (alternate) ideas palatable to what (we think) we
> experience?

I'm sure all the Big Bang theorists would say that they would
change their views if new evidence came to light. Of course,
there are thousands of ideas out there and most of them are
pretty crazy, pushed by people who don't understand even
the basics of what they are criticising, so it is understandable
that these ideas would sometimes be dismissed out of hand by
people working in the field. It is also undestandable that
scientists are only human and get quite attached to the theories
on which they base their careers, so they may not change as
quickly as they ought to in the light of new evidence.

Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Mon Aug 14 2006 - 00:40:04 PDT

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