What is the latest theory.....

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: stevf
they were labeled heretics and treated accordlingly for believing in the copernican system. The church was pushing aristotle - the earth was the center of the universe and the heavens were perfect. This was Galileo's problem. Copernicus and the other guy I cant remember here at work lived in northern europe so were safe at that time from those in italy and spain

The earth could still be the center of the universe, as all points in any coordinate system are based on an arbitrary origin. However, I know one person that the universe revolves around, so it must not the earth.

 

[blackllotus]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard

Originally posted by: stevf
they were labeled heretics and treated accordlingly for believing in the copernican system. The church was pushing aristotle - the earth was the center of the universe and the heavens were perfect. This was Galileo's problem. Copernicus and the other guy I cant remember here at work lived in northern europe so were safe at that time from those in italy and spain

The earth could still be the center of the universe, as all points in any coordinate system are based on an arbitrary origin. However, I know one person that the universe revolves around, so it must not the earth.

To go even further, the earth is the center of the known universe. If one was to build a three dimensional model of the universe as we know it then earth would be at the center (afaik, we can see the exact same distance in any direction we look).

Of course we don't actually know much about the shape of the universe itself except that it isn't a sphere (seen by curvature of space around galaxies, black holes, etc...) and that it *might* be euclidean (or non-euclidean and so big that the effects on euclidean geometry are not detectable within the observable universe).

 

[CRSTech06]

I don't find it ironic, I find it:
frustrating.

When we were looking at the house, I checked the neighbors phone number on the Verizon site. "DSL Available"...
We bought the house... DSL Available...
Then, I called Verizon - oh, it's not available yet, but it will be. You should be able to get DSL by sometime in late April. They didn't say of which year though; it's been a year and a half.


edit: besides, what better place is there than the middle of no where to practice physics?? One of these days, practicing physics is going to mean building a nice home-made windmill. Another potential future project is hydropower (that's going to be an expensive project though; it involves a million gallon pond being constructed)

I feel your pain, I had to wait a long time to get Road Runner. You can always get higher speed through satellite TV if you don't mind skipping your mortgage payments. Sounds like you have a good trade-off if you can think of putting up a windmill and hydropower, I have to get permission from the Homeowners Gestapo to change the plants in my front lawn.

Getting back on topic (sort of, since a young earth goes together with Intelligent Design):
I think there's "evidence" for and against Intelligent Design.
One of the pieces of evidence I have seen used by the Intelligent Design group is the bombardier beetle. It defends itself by mixing 2 chemicals that it carries on separate bladders in it's abdomen thereby creating an instant explosion. It seems impossible that evolution could have created this mechanism. If evolution had only created one pouch it would have been useless, but why would evolution create both bladders at the same time unless it "knew" where it was going with it?
On the other hand, I can't imagine that an intelligent designer would have made the trachea and esophagus cross. One error in swallowing and you choke to death. How intelligent is that? Two completely separate paths would make much more sense from an engineering point of view.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: CRSTech06

I don't find it ironic, I find it:
frustrating.

When we were looking at the house, I checked the neighbors phone number on the Verizon site. "DSL Available"...
We bought the house... DSL Available...
Then, I called Verizon - oh, it's not available yet, but it will be. You should be able to get DSL by sometime in late April. They didn't say of which year though; it's been a year and a half.


edit: besides, what better place is there than the middle of no where to practice physics?? One of these days, practicing physics is going to mean building a nice home-made windmill. Another potential future project is hydropower (that's going to be an expensive project though; it involves a million gallon pond being constructed)

I feel your pain, I had to wait a long time to get Road Runner. You can always get higher speed through satellite TV if you don't mind skipping your mortgage payments. Sounds like you have a good trade-off if you can think of putting up a windmill and hydropower, I have to get permission from the Homeowners Gestapo to change the plants in my front lawn.

Getting back on topic (sort of, since a young earth goes together with Intelligent Design):
I think there's "evidence" for and against Intelligent Design.
One of the pieces of evidence I have seen used by the Intelligent Design group is the bombardier beetle. It defends itself by mixing 2 chemicals that it carries on separate bladders in it's abdomen thereby creating an instant explosion. It seems impossible that evolution could have created this mechanism. If evolution had only created one pouch it would have been useless, but why would evolution create both bladders at the same time unless it "knew" where it was going with it?
On the other hand, I can't imagine that an intelligent designer would have made the trachea and esophagus cross. One error in swallowing and you choke to death. How intelligent is that? Two completely separate paths would make much more sense from an engineering point of view.

Text

 

[CRSTech06]

Thanks Gibsons, excellent article.

 

[DrPizza]

Excellent article! Thanks much!

 

[imported_inspire]

This has always been a touchy issue for me. I suppose I never really galvanized my stance on the subject. So, when I read the article (and I really didn't read all of it), I had to take some time to think about it.

Does evolution disqualify an intelligent designer? A lot of people reject the idea of evolution because they think it takes away any role for God to play in the creation of life. Such is the case, however, only for people who require God's role to fit certain narrow preconceptions of what "intelligent design" must mean. Millions of people around the world have no trouble believing in God and accepting evolution at the same time. Evolution only contradicts a man-made God that operates under man-made constraints.

That part was great. I've felt, though, that lots of people who believe in evolution see the idea of evolution as disqualifying an intelligent designer. In fact, up until this point in the article (I didn't read it ALL), I felt that's where this author was going.

Nice find, Gibsons.