Now see Chris, Your own issue is your reliance on the "accepted" for
it's sake. ;)
Instead of reading the words and taking them at face value, you ignore
the meaning and content of the quotes, and focus on and question the
origin. ("dubious origin"?) Typical political BS... Deflection of
meaning and attention by discrediting the source. That's elementary
political strategy 101, nothing more than a weak attempt to shift the
focus of the debate. What's more foolish? My quoting quotes of great
inventors, or your ignoring of the meaning by attacking the source of
the quote? Hmmm.
Frankly it doesn't matter "where" the quote comes from, nor does it
matter "who" said it. What matters is the meaning behind the words. Yet
you totally ignore that to try weakly at proving your own point by
deflecting attention. Shame on you... Instead of understanding, you
ignore it and call me a fool... ;) lol
If the institutionally correct method means we rely "only" on the
empirically evidenced and accepted, without looking at everything with
an open mind, maybe we should all give up now and burn all books and
shut down the internet. Dark ages anyone...?
Your philosophy (on this) is the "fallacy of appeal to authority" you
complained about last night. You are guilty of your own accusation of
dependence on that accepted authority, which is the same thing.
You're forgetting the most basic tenet of science, even though you try
to lean on it by saying "It is entirely appropriate that new ideas be
viewed with some skepticism before they are accepted" but what you fail
to realize is just because it's "NOT" accepted (yet) doesn't mean it's
not possible. Of course doubt and skepticism is part of it, but people
should not ignore the forest for the trees. It's not cliche because it's
silly, it's cliche because it's true.
Free the mind of the individual and scientific advancement is natural.
People tend to stop trying if they listen to people who tell them it's
unaccepted.
If people didn't try, we'd have nothing.
Regards,
Eric
P.S. I'm not referring to divining or dowsing. I'm referring to the
philosophy of science, learning and knowledge in general.
On 10/14/2010 12:44 PM, Chris Peterson wrote:
Actually, new ideas that are RIGHT have generally been accepted fairly
quickly. It is a myth of the pseudoscientist that so many great minds
have been considered wrong or crazy, and that the establishment has
usually been wrong. It is entirely appropriate that new ideas be
viewed with some skepticism before they are accepted, however.
In fact, it is science that tells us very clearly that divining rods
do not work. This is something that has been put to the test, and
failed that test. Nobody can actually demonstrate that they work any
better than random chance. Only a fool would ignore that reality in
favor of quotes (some of dubious origin).
Divining rods, homeopathy, astrology... all these things are firmly in
the same category.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Meteorites USA"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Stop Naysaying! (Was: Try divining rods
over a large iron)
Chris, I fully support the eviction of superstition from the human mind.
BUT... Non believers and naysayers of radical ideas are typically,
historically, and statistically, often wrong!
People said the Wright brothers couldn't fly. But they did.
People said you would die if you went faster than a few tens of MPH.
They were wrong.
People disbelieved DaVinci's inventions. But modern science proved many
to be possible.
People said it wasn't possible to fly to the Moon. Be we did.
People slammed Tesla, and persecuted him and his free wireless
electricity. Yet today we know induction charging and energy
transmission over distance is real.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -
Thomas Edison
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're
right." - Henry Ford
"Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers." - General Colin Powell
"...The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not
expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is
like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the
foundation for those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and
labors and hopes...." Nikola Tesla
Thomas Jefferson, with such a great mind on politics and human
advancement still had problems and could be considered a naysayer when
he said.
"I would more easily believe that a Yankee professor would lie than that
stones would fall from heaven." - Thomas Jefferson
Closedmindedness is the enemy of progress.
Regards,
Eric
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