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Elmer,

Great! Wonderful!

I was really only trying to make a point in the most general and absurd 
way. Religion (as far as I'm concerned) is not based on facts but faith. 
The problem we seem to be facing is that some people or factions wish to 
turn these faiths into something they are not. As outsiders to this, we 
might say these facts are wrong.

'Science' might point to a conclusion which later, with more study, has 
got to be modified or sometimes thrown away. Of course, this is the 
natural life of scientific inquiry and to us, somewhat familiar with it, 
it is no surprise. Yes the apple falls (a fact, I suppose) but I'm not 
sure we yet have an adequate explanation as to why, though we have tried 
  to come up with one for several thousand years.

But I think what I'm also trying to say is that there is a problem in 
the way science is perceived by the general public and also in the way 
it is taught. Knowing facts is past off for 'knowing' science; The 
atomic weight of uranium is... (let's not even get into quantum theory 
and how it has changed our perception of the inner life of the atom, and 
yet a hundred years later we still draw clumps of balls being orbited by 
electrons. I know. It's a convenient model which still works on some 
levels)  There are how many planets? I was taught 9 and could name them 
all in any order you wanted. So, I was told I was good in science. But 
now we're told there are 10, or, wait, maybe only 8, Pluto being 
sometimes on the list and sometimes out.

The point is, that science is almost always presented to people (the 
general public, school age kids, people not involved with it in their 
everyday life's) as having or knowing the answers when what science 
really is is seeking the answers.

So, how do we get this idea across, that we are seeking answers. We try 
with our names - Discovery Center this, Explor-arium that. But mostly we 
fail miserably. People want the answers, darn it! And I'll be damned if 
I'm not gonna give them another flip-up panel!

We do so little to support true creativity and curiosity in our 
institutions. And now we're complaining because of 'creationism.' Well, 
if we can't be more creative in helping people glimpse the wonderful 
world we live in, we deserve what we get.

Rant on brother!

Joe R
www.theexhibitguys.com




Elmer Bataitis wrote:
> I have some quibbles to rant about:
> 
> [log in to unmask] on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 at 1:30 PM -0500
> wrote:
> "
> 
>>The FACTS of science can be as wrong as the facts of a religion.
> 
> "
> 
> How can scientific facts be wrong? They are neither right, nor wrong -
> they just are. The ripened apple falls to the earth from the tree. This is
> a fact. It is the scientific *interpretation* of the fact that changes -
> from Plato, to Newton, to Einstein. The apple falls irregardless of the
> explanations made for the fact. The scientific interpretation may be wrong
> or right, but facts themselves almost never change.
> 
> [log in to unmask] on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 at 1:30 PM -0500
> wrote:
> "It is not the facts that are important at all (facts that are 'known'
> might rightly be called history.)"
> 
> All facts of any kind are historical. Feeling pain from touching a hot
> stove is historical. The damage was done before the nerve signals reached
> the brain for realization. Even seeing is a historical event, for even at
> the speed of light, time has passed before the reflected light from the
> event gets to your eyes, let alone to your brain.
> 
> OK, so much for rants and quibbles.
> 
> 
> 
> 

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