[geocentrism] Re: Magnet experiment

Philip M
 
From philip madsen Sat Apr 28 21:34:54 2007
 
Paul surely you can see what I rightfully condemn in MS when they make the 
following statement..
"To really understand the solar system we have to go back where it began and it 
began with comets."

Notice the contradiction of ideas.  First the admission of not really 
understanding, which is ok, but then the assertion, "it began with comets" .   
thats only a wild guess.. Yet students will believe he is stating a fact...  
 
They do it all the time...  
 
Of course I will not contest what you say. One finds examples like this 
everywhere. The human brain commonly seems quite incapable of seeing beyond the 
first order implications of what is being said and similarly blind to the fact 
that a criticism against one's adversaries may very well apply equally to 
oneself. (eg the beam vs mote in the eye etc). Intolerance to ideas which are 
at variance with our own will put blinkers on most, who are commonly simply 
looking for the first opportunity to condemn all of what they are hearing. To 
have one's argument prevail, to annhiliate an opponent's position, to squash 
one's enemy are primitive and powerful motivators. To see merit or reason in 
onother's argument is less common.

This little philosophical digression is a long way from the topic of Magnets so 
you won't mind if I include something from the Aether debate. But in any case, 
havn't we also established that consensus is no proof...? Again I concede your 
point but it doesn't exclude the possibility of being correct or the increased 
probability of being correct. Alternatively, you cannot say that truth is 
defined by uniqueness. I once owned a pair of trousers which I perceived to be 
green but on one occasion, after several such similar instances of being told 
they were grey, I decided to look more closely. With optical magnification I 
was able to see that the fabric was woven with one strand of green for every 
four strands of grey. Shortly after this, upon failing two items in the 
Ishihara test, I questioned my examiner on the matter. He assured me that there 
was a line from 'x' to 'y', and that I had an insensitivity to grey. In this 
case the majority were correct. So while contrary
 concensus may not be proof, it is certainly an occasion for examining one's 
own position more closely than usual.

Paul D

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