I think I have made my position clear on this elsewhere. Laws are not eternal and absolute. Many are discarded and reinvented in the light of new information, some persist despite that. But some laws that are now fully abandoned served mankind for 100s of years and were "know" to be true despite their eventual dismissal. If scientists are unaware of the historical contingency of the laws that assert, as so many are, then they will remain intransigent and resisting of modifications to their own beliefs, and treat innovation with inertia.
On Sep 7, 1:19 am, aruzinsky <[email protected]> wrote: > Science is the study of laws or models with substantial spatial and > temporal generality. Who did what at a specific time and place is not > a science because it lacks spatial and temporal generality. > > On Sep 6, 12:06 pm, chazwin <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Sep 6, 5:20 pm, aruzinsky <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Sep 5, 3:04 pm, chazwin <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Every country does that. American too. They claim to have the first > > > > example of an electric light, but this is false. The first working > > > > electric light was invented by Farraday in 1859. The South Foreland > > > > Lighthouse was the world's first ever man made electric light, and got > > > > its power from another of Farraday's inventions the electrical > > > > generator. > > > > > On Sep 5, 4:52 pm, aruzinsky <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > On Aug 22, 10:17 am, Awori <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Is there such a thing as an original idea? Can ideas originate from > > > > > > without? > > > > > > Is imitation the opposite of your concept of "original idea"? Many > > > > > ideas are repeated without imitation, e.g., reinventing the wheel. It > > > > > used to be a joke that the Soviet Union/Russia claimed that many > > > > > things were invented by its citizens before famous American inventors > > > > > such as Thomas Edison. Many of those claims were true. Since there > > > > > is no way of knowing whether something was previously invented by > > > > > intelligent life on another planet, there is no point on dwelling on > > > > > the concept of first idea. Instead, you should concentrate on the > > > > > concept of imitation. For example, look at all the people jumping on > > > > > the DNA bandwagon in this thread. > > > > > > "As each organism is unique, then all DNA arrangements are original." > > > > > - Identical twins are not unique in any way related to DNA. Any > > > > > uniqueness of identical twins should be attributed to environment. > > > > > Same for organisms that reproduce asexually.- Hide quoted text - > > > > > - Show quoted text - > > > > Small talk: > > > > As a child in the early 1950s, while watching a quiz show on TV, a > > > contestant selected "Science" as a topic. The question was, "Who > > > invented the steam engine?" I shouted at the TV, "That's not > > > science. That's history!" Apparently, some immoral history buffs > > > had wormed their way into positions of authority on that TV show just > > > to shove history lessons, disguised as science, up my ass. Probably, > > > the same kind of assholes who like to say, "Those who do not learn > > > from history are doomed to repeat it." Regardless of my learning from > > > history, I am not doomed to reinvent the steam engine. > > > I'm not so sure I'd so easily disregard history of science as part of > > science. As a piece of trivia Newcomen's (or was it Watt's) > > achievement on a developmental level is highly significant to an > > understanding of science which is far more contingent on historical > > interests than scientist would like to admit. Steam Power massively > > enhanced our understanding of the nature of heat, energy and its > > relation to fuel and power.- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Epistemology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/epistemology?hl=en.
