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March 17, 2012

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I'd be mighty skeptical of equating the validity of einstein's theory of relativity as compared with the theory of manmade global warming.

I think there is a good grounds for believing the theory of manmade global warming is probably true, but its not precise, not even close, and its not even clear if its just the earth's natural warming and cooling cycles, which is still not properly understood itself.

Science is a useful tool, but you have to be very weary of using it too justify personal beliefs. The whole point of science is that it should be an objective enquiry and its theories need to be put in the proper context, rather than simply saying a theory is scientific and therefore true. Many scientific theories once held to be true have subsequently found to be false.

Yes, we've seen many false claims like inertia-less drives and cold fusion not pan out, as distinct of course from religious claims which always come true for everyone.

Let's see, how many religions were able to compute the speed of light, identify the elementary particles of matter or describe their interactions?

I agree with this article and have to add that if neutrinos did travel faster than light they would have been in the same closet as the unification of gravity and the other forces waiting for someone to bring a new light.
About this new light that is shocking did you hear Verlinde's view on gravity. He basically says the reason why we could not match gravity with electricity etc is because Einstein was wrong. So was Newton with his force on a distance. He has a new theory that results in the laws of Newton and Einstein while having total new assumptions and yes it is simple!
These assumption arose from his studies on black holes. They had to make some weird assumptions there because entropy seems to be going the wrong direction. The universe became ordered in a black hole and that could not be right. From all that he took order of an unknown reality as basic quantity and derived gravitation from it that is just a process of nature going to less order as always.
It means the big bang is not there because gravity is not like Einstein figured it out. Dark matter is something different if at all present I'm not sure. It opens a view on physics in which particles no longer need to be points or string entities. They can be anything all we need to know about them is the entropy and other information.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?_r=2

It is new to me so my explanation sucks (only saw it a couple of days ago). If it is right and a lot of physicist tend that way than it will shake a hundred years of physics much more than the neutrino did.

well for example we've also seen einstein theory of relativity ridiculed by the scientific establishment for many years until it became irrefutable.

The history of science is replete with such trends where the biggest discoveries in science are often at first the one's that are most ridiculed and belittled, including the theory of evolution itself.

cold fusion is not totally without basis and much science fiction becomes science, but a perpetual-motion machine does seem to be againt the laws of the universe as we presently understand them. nevertheless provided the objective evidence is there, it becomes science, this is the meaning.

But my point is not that science is to be equated with religious claims in that it is equally as limited, it is exactly the opposite, merely that any claim to knowledge (including supposedly scientific ones) should be based on the evidence that develops in support of them.

Science is therefore the best objective indication of truth that exists. But there are different branches of science, as well as emperical, statistical or mathematically supported scientific theories, all imo can be said to have different levels of objective truth. The theories most likely to have the most truth are those supported by all forms of evidence.

Religious claims are merely subjective claims, thus rank as the lowes level of objective truth on the same rung as a work of fiction.

Einstein;s theory(s) of relativity are virtually uncontestable, and for decades now ppl have been trying, whereas while the manmade theory of global warming does appear to be correct it is nowhere close to the level of scientific proof that is associated with either of einsteins relativity theories.

Reality is not good enough for human beings - never was, and never will be. Science is just a method of attempting to control our situation as best we can. The news is not good: the universe began, and the universe will end. Every last jot and tittle, to borrow a biblical phrase.
Science will never succeed in making Reality palatable for the masses.
Now that we have tamed the wild neutrino, it is time to get back to the hunt for the elusive Higgs Boson.

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