I bet if Galileo had had internet access he really would have learned some things.

[IronWing]

Pretty wild to think about it.

 

[zinfamous]

I think he would have discovered a Zeze thread, then determine to use himself as one of "the bodies" in his experiment from the tower in Pisa.

--LoL--I honestly did not see the tag before posting that. Shit, I need to get off the internet [meaning: AT] for a week

 

[MrSquished]

If I had internet access in the womb now that would have been something. 9 months to just learn shit. Sick.

 

[dasherHampton]

He would have found porn and never been heard from again.

 

[Darwin333]

I often imagine what someone like Newton, one of the greatest minds in recorded history imho, would discover today. Hell how much more would he have discovered if he hadn't given up and used the "god of the gaps" excuse on perturbation theory? This is a man that invented calculus on basically a dare and he doesn't mention God anywhere in his work until he comes upon the multiple body problem with gravitation. Then we get this:

"This most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.

And if the fixed stars are the centers of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of the One ... And so that the system of the fixed stars will not fall upon one another as a result of their gravity, he has placed them at immense distances from one another."

Then he basically gave up on trying to solve the problem.

 

[MrSquished]

I often imagine what someone like Newton, one of the greatest minds in recorded history imho, would discover today. Hell how much more would he have discovered if he hadn't given up and used the "god of the gaps" excuse on perturbation theory? This is a man that invented calculus on basically a dare and he doesn't mention God anywhere in his work until he comes upon the multiple body problem with gravitation. Then we get this:

"This most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.

And if the fixed stars are the centers of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of the One ... And so that the system of the fixed stars will not fall upon one another as a result of their gravity, he has placed them at immense distances from one another."

Then he basically gave up on trying to solve the problem.

God is a cop out for a lot of people these days.

 

[Red Squirrel]

He would have learned that the Earth is flat.

 

[randay]

who?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

who?

Some heretic Catholic from like the 19th century. He tried to convince people that the earth wasn't flat or something.

 

[Darwin333]

God is a cop out for a lot of people these days.

As I stated, it isn't just these days.

 

[lxskllr]

As I stated, it isn't just these days.

Yea, but there's less of an excuse these days. I'm more willing to give those old guys a pass than someone today. When you don't know much, the supernatural is more plausible. Today, we have real world "magic", so it isn't a stretch to extend that to other things we don't understand, and assume there's a logical explanation that simply needs to be prised out,

 

[ultimatebob]

He would have found porn and never been heard from again.

Yeah... he probably would have wasted all of his time on Facebook and YouTube watching cat videos like the rest of us.

 

[Darwin333]

Yea, but there's less of an excuse these days. I'm more willing to give those old guys a pass than someone today. When you don't know much, the supernatural is more plausible. Today, we have real world "magic", so it isn't a stretch to extend that to other things we don't understand, and assume there's a logical explanation that simply needs to be prised out,

Shrug, the God of the Gaps has been used forever even by arguably one of the greatest minds ever was my point and I don't see it going away anytime soon. I do agree that there is less of an excuse these days but people are indoctinerated as kids and for some the indoctrination runs really really deep. Luckily the further up you go with scientists the less religious they are. Personally I'd just be happy for them to separate their faith from science/work. When you come upon something that isn't yet understood and use god(s) as the reason you have stopped trying to further your understanding, you are just giving up. Even worse you are being quite arrogant "since I can't figure it no one will be able to figure it out so it must be that way because god(s) is doing it".

A little off topic but the Muslims in their golden age were at the pinnacle of scientific/math knowledge and discovery. They were open to all religions and even "doubters" or agnostic/atheists and lasted until the late 1200's. We can actually trace back when all of that ended to one asshole and they haven't recovered since. Of the billions and billions of Muslims that have come and gone since how many truly great minds did we lose? Hell how many great minds are out there right now that will never have a chance to use their brilliance for furthering our knowledge?