Posted by Al; [Aldurant] on April 08, 1999 at 18:55:50 {vxsc0.TBNkbNVk78PDhst74NX2uzuA}:
In Reply to: *****Mammoths, Flood -- for WW posted by WW on April 08, 1999 at 14:57:28:
WW- You haven't answered any of my questions, ever. I think you just avoided some of my archaelogy posts. And what do you think about the fact that these people said that no one could live at that altitude, and a mediocre little encyclopedia refutes them?
It's a big world, and there are a lot of scientists. If there are 1000000 various facts, the systemization of knowlege, science, will try to organize it into categories. We are relatively happy with the system because it is the most effective survival tool we have. There are always facts that don't fit into categories. That is why science doesn't just stagnate. Those trained in the disciplines of science follow careful procedure and don't go off half-cocked and jump at every mystic tale they can find. These folks are probably over 95% of the scientists. There are a few who for various reasons, try to form entire theories around a single anomaly. Or they collect anomalies and weave thenm into some basicly meaningless legend. I say meaningless because there is nothing anyone can do about it. No one ever built a machine or invented anything over a crackppot theory. There's a Lochness monster. There are thousands of ufo's but we can't prove it because they are tricky. God did it. God is going to do it. Who knows what to do about these things? Some ornizations would like all aguments for "God did it" to mean that we give them our allegiance, labor, and money. suspiciously convenient. WW- if you find yourself calling people things like "pseudo-intellectual or something, it may be a clue that you don't know what to say to them. I don't have a degree. Yet. I am about 30 hours away from one. I have taught Physics as an undergraduate to the freshman class. None of us on this bord are professional research scientists. We do have some M.I.T. graduates or near graduates. But none of them use this or make reference to it as if this were an argument. An interesting research project for us woould be to see how many idiots even were accepted to M.I.T., much less graduated. But their emphasis is on common sense, what 95% of competent scientists have come to believe, so far, after checking each others work.
There are othe people here who believe in various aspects of what seems to be your faith. They do not seem to need to debunk mainstream science to have their faith.You really don't need to either, and that's really convenient since youcan't, and of course, neither can we.
Al