Winner and Losers of 2005

[EternalOptimist]

what confuses me

what confuses me is this idea that we have to treat other peoples beliefs with respect.

b@lls

I dont treat Hitlers beliefs with respect
I dont treat Maos beliefs with respect
I dont treat the beliefs behind the inquisition with respect
I dont treat Chicos beliefs with respect

etc
etc


I treat a lot of beliefs with contempt.

[Chico]

what confuses me is this idea that we have to treat other peoples beliefs with respect.

b@lls

I dont treat Hitlers beliefs with respect
I dont treat Maos beliefs with respect
I dont treat the beliefs behind the inquisition with respect
I dont treat Chicos beliefs with respect

etc
etc


I treat a lot of beliefs with contempt.

I am sure your brother the Vicar will be so proud of you.

[EternalOptimist]

and who is your vicar Chico ?
and is he a winner or a loser in 2005 ?

I suspect he has a couple of horns and a pointy tail

anyway I thought you had announced a truce over Christmas ??

still

[Fungus]

sasguru: I often have that same conversation with people who believe in Quantum Physics. You have the Copenhageners and the Multiversers, give 'em some guns and it would be protestants and catholics all over again. I don't believe any of it, which I guess would make me a Buddhist.

There's a huge difference between quantum theory, and religion. Quantum theory has been used to make predictions about the behaviour of materials with great success. It's the reason we have computers, and other electronic devices. As soon as a scientific theory is shown to conflict with observation, then scientists try to determine why, and either 'correct' the theory, or replace it with a more complete theory. Thus quantum machanics supplants Newtonian mechanics on the small scale. And General Relativity supplants Newtonian mechanics on the large scale. But Newtonian Mechanics is fine for most purposes. Science is evolving, and open to change. I believe that the term science comes from the Greek for knowledge.

Whereas in the case of religion, it's true because the adherents say so. It's a frozen set of truths that are not open to question, or testing, or verification. That's why its called a faith. You have to have faith in it because there is no rational proof or evidence. And all too often in history those who argue are put to death or suffer in some way. Prime Minister Disraeli came from a Jewish family that converted to Christianity because it was better career wise. I'm sure many people who believe are decent, and genuinely want to improve life for others. But they should not force their beliefs on others.

Fungus

[threaded]

I did write a long reply then thought, fsck it, try a contract in physics dept., it'll make you want to switch to the more open thought processes of the theologians.

[EternalOptimist]

sheesh Fungus

are you saying that Quantum Physics is a 'valid' belief because it is a good predictor


Chicos is an 'invalid' belief because it predicts nothing


only 'valid' beliefs can be foisted upon the innocent ?


I like this , keep going

[Fungus]

I did write a long reply then thought, fsck it, try a contract in physics dept., it'll make you want to switch to the more open thought processes of the theologians.

I did that and left. It's too competitive, no-one gives a toss about your work, and the pay is poor.

Fungus

[Fungus]

sheesh Fungus

are you saying that Quantum Physics is a 'valid' belief because it is a good predictor


Chicos is an 'invalid' belief because it predicts nothing


only 'valid' beliefs can be foisted upon the innocent ?


I like this , keep going

I'm not saying that Chico's belief is not valid, but that it is a faith,a nd addressed completely different issues from science. But a lot of the stuff on that web site he linked to is pure hocus pocus. It's in the same realm as crystals, copper bracelets, pyrimids and so on.

Quantum physics is a good theory due to it agreement with experiment, and its predictive ability. There is so much evidence to support it, that it can be accepted as a good description of certain aspects of the world as we currently understand it.

To state the blindingly obvious, religion addresses the spiritual side of life which science largely avoids. There are things that do not reduce to simple theories and probably never will do.

Fungus

[threaded]

Have you not seen the mantras with a 1:1 correspondence with super string theory?

[OwlHoot]

Have you not seen the mantras with a 1:1 correspondence with super string theory?

Believe it or not, string theory, or its big brother M-theory, is converging with number theory, specifically the Langlands program, which in part generalizes the theory that Andrew Wiles used to prove Fermat's Last theorem: http://www.arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-th/pdf/0512/0512172.pdf

G H Hardy would be pretending to turn in his grave

Ironically they both have among their aims that of furthering something called "field theory", but each with a completely different meaning of the word "field" - Quantum fields, v. algebraic and function fields.