On 5/26/2011 12:06 PM, Daniel C. wrote: > On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:33 AM, Alan Young<[email protected]> wrote: >> My assertion is that whatever we *collectively* decide is the truth >> becomes the truth. The "discoveries" we have made over the millennia >> have not been discoveries but alterations of the universe around us as >> theories and ideas have become popularly accepted. > So if I lived in Greece in the 4th century BC, then the Sun I saw > rising each day was stationary and the Earth revolved around it; > unless I was a Pythagorean, in which case the Earth revolved around > the Sun; but if I left Greece and moved to Egypt, it goes back to the > Earth being stationary (in Egypt, at least), until I can convince > everyone that they're wrong and I'm right and once that happens the > Sun stops moving and the Earth starts up again. > > All of this is of course perfectly sensible and could not under any > circumstances be challenged except by the most intellectually obtuse, > but I'm still confused about something. Hopefully you can enlighten > me. We know that in Egypt in the 4th century BC the Sun revolved > around the Earth, since that's what everyone believed. But when half > of the people in Egypt believe that the Earth is stationary, and half > of the people in Egypt believe that the Sun is stationary, which one > is moving and which one is holding still? The answer is probably > obvious, but I'm just too dumb to see it. Can you help me out, Alan? > > /* > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > Don't fear the penguin. > */ > I think there might be a solution in the theories of Bishop Barkley, but in said event we would really be in trouble given the eventuality of a catholic afterlife.
/* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
