Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (49030)	8/4/1999 12:19:00 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I agree that the revolution in science is much more than mere refinement. The mere improvements in instrumentation, such as the telescope and microscope, yielded a wealth of paradigm changing data. The development of algebra, and its application to physics, was a separate revolution, permitting the formulation of many physical relations that had gone ignored. But the largest thing, which Christopher touched on, was the development of the scientific method, of standards for reproducible experiment. The possibility of uncovering hitherto unknown facts by setting up precise conditions of discovery, and of verifying them through rigorous control of factors and reproduciblility, produced a wealth of data upon which to build ever more refined theories.... Copernicus finally over- ruled Ptolemy; Harvey superceded Galen; the atom was discovered to be mis- named, and filled with smaller particles; gravity was established, and the laws of inertia and thermodynamics; even time and space were called into question, not only as accurate measurements, but, in the general theory of relativity, as characteristics of objects, which would shorten and slow down as the speed of light was approached.... Greek science was essentially "natural history", with a very limited propensity to even examine the insides of plants or animals. There was much too much a priori reasoning: the reason that Ptolemy favored the geocentric over the heliocentric hypothesis was because he was an Aristotelian, and that dictated that highly changable Earth should be the furthest away from the prime mover, which is outside of the sphere of fixed stars. There was too much argument by, or acceptance of, authority: in the Timaeus, Plato basically takes the scheme of Empedocles, that the elements are earth, air, fire, water, and ether, and tries to give it a geometric interpretation, but it doesn't occur to him to ask if it is an adequate account in the first place. The concern was often less with knowledge than with ethics, and therefore the examination of nature was to learn "big lessons", not to gain insight into its workings.... The myths embodied psychological, moral, and spiritual truths that have generally been found fruitful for instruction and reflection throughout the centuries. There is a power to stories, and it is at least a good idea to understand and appreciate it....