" Science is only ever 'settled' in the sense of "it looks stable for now". "
The following is a translation of what was reportedly written around 1,000 years ago: *The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.* *— Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham)* More recently, the following is attributed to Karl Popper: *No number of sightings of white swans can prove the theory that all swans are white. The sighting of just one black one may disprove it.* " My vision of TABULA is as a tool to show students what's possible. Not to chisel out idols to bow down to. " Amen ;) " Like the reason why the human eye couldn't have arisen by blind chance. " For some reason that reminded me of the following entry in the *Devil's Dictionary*: *Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man—who has no gills.* On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 12:41 PM Ian Clark <earthspo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > (…"the science is settled"). > > Science is only ever "settled" in the sense of "it looks stable for now". > > My vision of TABULA is as a tool to show students what's possible. Not to > chisel out idols to bow down to. > > And I mean it primarily for students. What I recall of school was enduring > impatience with debates on matters where we knew the answer was known. We > wanted to be told what was so and what wasn't. And when it wasn't, we > wanted to be given one reason why not, to hurl back at critics. Battle > cries, not debates. > > But some of the "reasons" we were given don't stand up to simple modelling. > Like the reason why the human eye couldn't have arisen by blind chance. Or > that natural selection can give rise to sterile worker ants (Darwin spent a > lot of time on these topics: > http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22764/22764-h/22764-h.htm#page171 ). > > Maybe that's just the cultural bubble I was brought up in? I hope that's > the case, and it's a bubble long burst. But I see little evidence of it > with my children, and now grandchildren. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
