----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:56 PM Subject: Re: Endless Universe Made Possible By New Model
> > > Original Message: > ----------------- > From: Doug [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:36:35 -0800 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Endless Universe Made Possible By New Model > > > Klaus wrote: > >> Yup, but we've got indirect "evidence" already. > >>Not really. All we've got is that some of our pet theories don't >>work > without it. > > You mean like F=ma? The use of dark energy as an explaination for > accleration in the opposite direction of all known forces is > fundamentally > based on that. That's pretty well what it says. > >> >> As for direct evidence, we don't have any at all. Not even for >> gravity. > All >> we notice is that things keep falling to the ground, and some >> people came > up >> with a fishy theory about "gravity". > > >>We didn't invent gravity as a fudge factor to prove our theory that >>things > fall to the >ground. > > But, it did have something that was considered in that light: spooky > instantaneous action at a distance with no known mechanism. > Further, the > fudge factor of dark energy is more akin to the charge of the > electron in > QED or maybe the fudge factor used to explain the orbit of the moon > for > about 100 years before Laplace, I think, did the calculations that > showed > the consistancy of the moon's orbit with the predictions afforded by > Newtonian gravitation. > > The expansion of the universe is accelerating. Dark energy is a > means of > expressing this in terms of force. I'm not sure what your > difficulty is. > Are you arguing that the expansion of the universe is not really > accelerating, and that there were some unwarrented assumptions that > went > into these conclusions? Or, do you see a problem with describing > this > acceleration in terms of F=ma? > Going back to basics, it seems to me that our experience with orbital mechanics for spacecraft and satelites and our use of the "slingshot effect" to propel interplanetary missions to the outer solar system are pretty good evidence that we have a good theory and a good grasp of it. We have had discussions here of the Pioneer Anamoly in the past, and IIRC the question is still open so it isn't like we need to abandon current theory as unrealistic. xponent Evidential Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
