Starship Asterisk*

=Chris - Nobody has done that to the satisfaction of most scientists. Because the programming will not allow that to easily happen. You know, there is nothing scientists desire more than to make a pivotal new discovery. That's how you win a Nobel Prize. You don't do it by following the herd. Every ...

"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...

[...] Your example demonstrates that science works, not that it doesn't. A failure would be indicated by a refusal to incorporate new observations into theoretical models. That doesn't seem to be happening. What doesn't seem to be happening is the increased acceptance of alternative theories suppor...

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 ...

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 He was? What - specifically - did he write (about 'isl...

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...

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...

"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...

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?

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...

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) ...

The thing is, Nereid, what I posted, including the string theory, are all examples of excellent scientists making excellent discoveries or assumptions or insights or hunches which proved correct, all considered absurd by other scientists .. all proven correct eventually. Why let history see you on ...

There are at least two kinds of very pertinent examples, or cases, that are not included in your post, Sputnick: normal astronomy working well, in the sense of discoveries or theories quickly made or confirmed, with little drama; and normal astronomy working well, in the sense of theories or ideas n...

My reply to an earlier Sputnick post, with essentially identical content, is here.

Highly Recommended reading especially for Chris and Nereid - 'Through a Universe Darkly' by Physicist Marcia Bartusiak - includes: Celia Payne who was told by 'the establishment' that her calculations showing Hydrogen was the vastly predominant element in the universe were in error - the person who...

Astrophysics was once non-science as far as the establishment was concenerned, It was? When? and Celia Payne was considered a non-scientist. Do you mean Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin? I highly, highly, highly recommend the book 'Through a Universe Darkly' by physicist Marcia Bartusiak. This book puts hi...

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 e...

Sputnick, I can't really follow what you were saying in your most recent post in this thread, so what follows may not be relevant. So then - should we take the risk of saying ANY idea is ridiculous? Of course ... this forum has a fairly well defined scope, and within that scope a great many ideas ar...

[...] I suppose part of my rubberized musings result from reading of 'The Big Bounce' - one of the more recent theories to explain away some of the missing theoretical elements supporting the Big Bang. I also see a need for 'something' to cause the 'desire' for galactic bodies on the vast scale to ...

Chris - that someone could consider for even a moment that a huge explosion of nothing (except you will say 'it was an ultradense singularity smaller than a pinpoint) started the universe is absurd even if some say it is the concensus which, in reading sciene magazines, I find to be just not so. I ...

There are several very good points in this post of astrolabe's (hiya a'abe!), but I'd like to highlight just a few ... [...] As for the flat Earth, it was a product of the times and a lack of knowledge of course. Accepted mainstream theory like the BB is in a sense the flat Earth of today, but even ...

It is ridiculous to say that all ideas, no matter how ridiculous, deserve consideration. And who is to be the judge of what is "ridiculous"? In a forum like this it obviously becomes the judgement of the moderator with the delete button. Let's not get too carried away; the stated scope of...

This thread contains 'bug reports' whose triggers have been resolved, leaving the Bug? Problems? Report them here! thread for new bugs (etc).

Not that I believe in an Electric Universe Theory but...Consider this: The Universe on a micro scale (relatively speaking of course), Galactic scale, can not readily transfer electrons due to the vast distances between normal matter particles that could carry the charge. However, the universe consi...