THE END OF SCIENCE

On 27 Jun., 17:53, "Timothy 1:4a" wrote:
Mark Twain said, "The reports of my death have been greatly
exaggerated."

Perhaps there is good cause for _some_ concern in the many articles
cited above, but science overall is going gangbusters.

- The Large Hadron Collider came online in September 2008 to study
subatomic particles.

- The Kepler telescope mission was launched in March 2009 to study
planets around distant stars, and the Hubble telescope is still
bringing in treasures every day.

- New tools let us study ocean depths in ever more detail.

- Brain imaging is teaching us about the physical basis of the mind.
We recently photographed memories forming in the brain, verifying the
hypothesis that memories are proteins newly formed at synapses.

- Even more to the point, DNA studies continue to expand a dozen
sciences. DNA studies are reorganizing and/or confirming our taxonomy.
The ability to understand and manipulate genetic material is so
exciting that it's scary. Comparison of DNA in modern populations
around the world and comparison with ancient DNA from Stone Age humans
are rewriting the maps of prehistoric human migrations.

So what if we haven't had a major new physics theory in 30 years?
Perhaps that's partly because we've got most things right by now. We
are collecting facts faster than ever, integrating them better than
ever, applying them better than ever.

Now if we could only get some of that knowledge applied in our social
and political process :-(

On Jun 27, 10:21*am, Pentcho Valev wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...science-unifie...
"Are we witnessing the end of science?.....Progress in science needs
researchers who are not afraid – or who are encouraged and rewarded –
to ask awkward and difficult questions of theory and of new data. It
is easier to question mainstream views if you are independently
wealthy, as many scientists in previous ages tended to be. But I
wonder how many of us would do so if we were employed by the state and
our career progression depended on the validation of our peers?"

snip for brevity

When we look at the present stage of science and when we consider the
enormous effects of science concerning the whole of human life, human
society, even the state of our planet, we might tend to think, that
such a thing cannot easily disappear from history. - But we have to
remember, that science is a rather new thing. There were some
promising beginnings in classical Greece, but in the periods that
followed nearly nothing happened. Mankind had to wait until the 17th
century to see real impacts of science.

But of course, the reason why e.g. the Romans did not evolve science,
was not their lack of intelligence. Seemingly a certain structure of
society is needed to enable or motivate scientific research, e.g. some
kind of capitalism. - And the change of those structures might entail
the total stagnation of science. - Consider Orwell's 1984. He
plausibly depicts a state of society, where scientific research has
been nearly stopped. - Of course, science as the sum of our current
knowledge could merely disappear due to some cosmic disaster, but the
attempts to expand this knowledge may cease.


Walter Imlenz

Pentcho Valev wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...eory-mavericks
"Are we witnessing the end of science?.....Progress in science needs
researchers who are not afraid – or who are encouraged and rewarded –
to ask awkward and difficult questions of theory and of new data. It
is easier to question mainstream views if you are independently
wealthy, as many scientists in previous ages tended to be. But I
wonder how many of us would do so if we were employed by the state and
our career progression depended on the validation of our peers?"

Two scientists "employed by the state" who "question mainstream
views":

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000313/
Jos Uffink: Bluff your Way in the Second Law of Thermodynamics

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...ent=a909857880
Peter Hayes: The Ideology of Relativity: The Case of the Clock Paradox

In the era of Postscientism questioning mainstream views is useless
because nobody cares about questioning mainstream views. In other
words, the death of science is IRREVERSIBLE:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/2009031...z?rel=hp_picks
"The most striking thing about the way we talk about science these
days is just how little we talk about it at all. No large fundamental
question focuses our attention on the adventure of discovery; no grand
public project stirs our reflection on the perils of technological
control. Nothing for decades has approached the imaginative impact of
relativity or the double helix, the moon landing or the bomb."

http://www.nyas.org/publications/Upd...sp?UpdateID=41
Lee Smolin: "Then, about 30 years ago, something changed. The last
time there was a definitive advance in our knowledge of fundamental
physics was the construction ofthe theory we call the standard model
of particle physics in 1973. The last time a fundamental theory was
proposed that has since gotten any support from experiment was a
theory about the very early universe called inflation, which was
proposed in 1981....A growing number of theoretical physicists, myself
among them, see the present situation as a crisis that requires us to
reexamine the assumptions behind our so-far unsuccessful theories. I
should emphasize that this crisis involves only fundamental physics
that part of physics concerned with discovering the laws of nature."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/ingdahl2.html
"But there has been a marked global decrease of students willing to
study physics, and funding has decreased accordingly. Not only that,
the best students are not heading for studies in physics, finding
other fields more appealing, and science teachers to schools are
getting scarcer in supply. In fact, warning voices are being heard
about the spread of a "scientific illiteracy" where many living in
technologically advanced societies lack the knowledge and the ability
for critical thinking in order to function in their daily
environment."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20.../22/schools.g2
"We are nearing the end of the "World Year of Physics", otherwise
known as Einstein Year, as it is the centenary of his annus mirabilis
in which he made three incredible breakthroughs, including special
relativity. In fact, it was 100 years ago yesterday that he published
the most famous equation in the history of physics: E=mc2. But instead
of celebrating, physicists are in mourning after a report showed a
dramatic decline in the number of pupils studying physics at school.
The number taking A-level physics has dropped by 38% over the past 15
years, a catastrophic meltdown that is set to continue over the next
few years. The report warns that a shortage of physics teachers and a
lack of interest from pupils could mean the end of physics in state
schools. Thereafter, physics would be restricted to only those
students who could afford to go to posh schools. Britain was the home
of Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Paul Dirac, and Brits made world-
class contributions to understanding gravity, quantum physics and
electromagnetism - and yet the British physicist is now facing
extinction. But so what? Physicists are not as cuddly as pandas, so
who cares if we disappear?"

http://www.i-sem.net/press/jmll_isem_palermo.pdf
"La science souffre dune forte perte de crédit, au sens propre comme
au sens figuré : son soutien politique et économique, comme sa
réputation intellectuelle et culturelle connaissent une crise grave."

http://dogma.free.fr/txt/EK-ScienceQuiestion.htm
"Par ailleurs, on remarque quaujourdhui, les thèses « relativistes »,
par exemple celle de Paul Féyerabend, ont un impact très fort,
notamment dans les milieux étudiants. Même si leur diffusion
saccompagne de contresens et de malentendus, elles servent de socle à
des critiques de plus en plus vives adressées aux professionnels de la
recherche : Votre science dit-elle réellement le vrai ? Comment osez-
vous prétendre quelle se réfère à la rationalité alors que les
jugements esthétiques, les préjugés métaphysiques et autres désirs
subjectifs imprégnent sinon sa démarche tout entière, du moins
certaines de ses phases ? Votre légitimité incontestée est-elle fondée
sur autre chose que des effets de pouvoir ?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...e-easier-exams
"Pupils of today struggle with science questions of the 60s. Evidence
shows standards are slipping as comparison is made of exam papers
through the decades. There has been a "catastrophic slippage" in
standards of science taught in schools, leaving children with a
superficial understanding of chemistry, biology and physics, according
to the Royal Society of Chemistry."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...tion.education
Harry Kroto: "The wrecking of British science....The scientific method
is based on what I prefer to call the inquiring mindset. It includes
all areas of human thoughtful activity that categorically eschew
"belief", the enemy of rationality. This mindset is a nebulous mixture
of doubt, questioning, observation, experiment and, above all,
curiosity, which small children possess in spades. I would argue that
it is the most important, intrinsically human quality we possess, and
it is responsible for the creation of the modern, enlightened portion
of the world that some of us are fortunate to inhabit. Curiously, for
the majority of our youth, the educational system magically causes
this capacity to disappear by adolescence.....Do I think there is any
hope for UK? I am really not sure."

Pentcho Valev

On Jul 17, 10:38*am, BradGuth wrote:
On Jul 17, 6:39*am, "Peter Webb"

wrote:
"Pentcho Valev" wrote in message

....
Concerns increase.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...nce-gcse-curri...
"As concerns increase about the 'dumbing down' of science
education..."

===========================
You are a symptom of the dumbing down of science.

And your mining of public funded science has uncovered ??????????

*~ BG

You are a symptom of the dumbing down of science. And your mining of
public funded science has uncovered ?????????? ~ BG ...

On Jun 27, 10:21*am, Pentcho Valev wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/bl...science-unifie...
"Are we witnessing the end of science?.....Progress in science needs
researchers who are not afraid – or who are encouraged and rewarded –
to ask awkward and difficult questions of theory and of new data. It
is easier to question mainstream views if you are independently
wealthy, as many scientists in previous ages tended to be. But I
wonder how many of us would do so if we were employed by the state and
our career progression depended on the validation of our peers?"

Two scientists "employed by the state" who "question mainstream
views":

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000313/
Jos Uffink: Bluff your Way in the Second Law of Thermodynamics

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...ent=a909857880
Peter Hayes: The Ideology of Relativity: The Case of the Clock Paradox

In the era of Postscientism questioning mainstream views is useless
because nobody cares about questioning mainstream views. In other
words, the death of science is IRREVERSIBLE:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/2009031...z?rel=hp_picks
"The most striking thing about the way we talk about science these
days is just how little we talk about it at all. No large fundamental
question focuses our attention on the adventure of discovery; no grand
public project stirs our reflection on the perils of technological
control. Nothing for decades has approached the imaginative impact of
relativity or the double helix, the moon landing or the bomb."

Nothing probably will. Since the Washington cranks mostly still
don't
realize that anything happened after the bomb, and the relativity
people are permanenlty occupied working on spy satellites,
So that's mostly why the people with non-zero progess minds
work on the holographics, microcomputers, laser libraries,
electronic books,
non-teleprompting HDTV, Home Broadband, On-Line Publishing, On-Line
Banking,
Self-Replicating Machines, Self-Assembling Robots, Cruise Missiles,
UAVs, AAVs,
Phalanx, Atomic Clock Wris****ches, Distributed Processing
Software, Biodiesel,
Hydird-Electric Engines, neo Wind Energy and other things that
aren't just a
continuous roadtrip to McDonald's.





http://www.nyas.org/publications/Upd...sp?UpdateID=41
Lee Smolin: "Then, about 30 years ago, something changed. The last
time there was a definitive advance in our knowledge of fundamental
physics was the construction ofthe theory we call the standard model
of particle physics in 1973. The last time a fundamental theory was
proposed that has since gotten any support from experiment was a
theory about the very early universe called inflation, which was
proposed in 1981....A growing number of theoretical physicists, myself
among them, see the present situation as a crisis that requires us to
reexamine the assumptions behind our so-far unsuccessful theories. I
should emphasize that this crisis involves only fundamental physics
that part of physics concerned with discovering the laws of nature."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/ingdahl2.html
"But there has been a marked global decrease of students willing to
study physics, and funding has decreased accordingly. Not only that,
the best students are not heading for studies in physics, finding
other fields more appealing, and science teachers to schools are
getting scarcer in supply. In fact, warning voices are being heard
about the spread of a "scientific illiteracy" where many living in
technologically advanced societies lack the knowledge and the ability
for critical thinking in order to function in their daily
environment."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20.../22/schools.g2
"We are nearing the end of the "World Year of Physics", otherwise
known as Einstein Year, as it is the centenary of his annus mirabilis
in which he made three incredible breakthroughs, including special
relativity. In fact, it was 100 years ago yesterday that he published
the most famous equation in the history of physics: E=mc2. But instead
of celebrating, physicists are in mourning after a report showed a
dramatic decline in the number of pupils studying physics at school.
The number taking A-level physics has dropped by 38% over the past 15
years, a catastrophic meltdown that is set to continue over the next
few years. The report warns that a shortage of physics teachers and a
lack of interest from pupils could mean the end of physics in state
schools. Thereafter, physics would be restricted to only those
students who could afford to go to posh schools. Britain was the home
of Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Paul Dirac, and Brits made world-
class contributions to understanding gravity, quantum physics and
electromagnetism - and yet the British physicist is now facing
extinction. But so what? Physicists are not as cuddly as pandas, so
who cares if we disappear?"

http://www.i-sem.net/press/jmll_isem_palermo.pdf
"La science souffre dune forte perte de crédit, au sens propre comme
au sens figuré : son soutien politique et économique, comme sa
réputation intellectuelle et culturelle connaissent une crise grave."

http://dogma.free.fr/txt/EK-ScienceQuiestion.htm
"Par ailleurs, on remarque quaujourdhui, les thèses « relativistes »,
par exemple celle de Paul Féyerabend, ont un impact très fort,
notamment dans les milieux étudiants. Même si leur diffusion
saccompagne de contresens et de malentendus, elles servent de socle à
des critiques de plus en plus vives adressées aux professionnels de la
recherche : Votre science dit-elle réellement le vrai ? Comment osez-
vous prétendre quelle se réfère à la rationalité alors que les
jugements esthétiques, les préjugés métaphysiques et autres désirs
subjectifs imprégnent sinon sa démarche tout entière, du moins
certaines de ses phases ? Votre légitimité incontestée est-elle fondée
sur autre chose que des effets de pouvoir ?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...e-easier-exams
"Pupils of today struggle with science questions of the 60s. Evidence
shows standards are slipping as comparison is made of exam papers
through the decades. There has been a "catastrophic slippage" in
standards of science taught in schools, leaving children with a
superficial understanding of chemistry, biology and physics, according
to the Royal Society of Chemistry."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...tion.education
Harry Kroto: "The wrecking of British science....The scientific method
is based on what I prefer to call the inquiring mindset. It includes
all areas of human thoughtful activity that categorically eschew
"belief", the enemy of rationality. This mindset is a nebulous mixture
of doubt, questioning, observation, experiment and, above all,
curiosity, which small children possess in spades. I would argue that
it is the most important, intrinsically human quality we possess, and
it is responsible for the creation of the modern, enlightened portion
of the world that some of us are fortunate to inhabit. Curiously, for
the majority of our youth, the educational system magically causes
this capacity to disappear by adolescence.....Do I think there is any
hope for UK? I am really not sure."

Pentcho Valev

walterimlenz wrote:
But of course, the reason why e.g. the Romans did not evolve science,
was not their lack of intelligence. Seemingly a certain structure of
society is needed to enable or motivate scientific research, e.g. some
kind of capitalism. - And the change of those structures might entail
the total stagnation of science. - Consider Orwell's 1984. He
plausibly depicts a state of society, where scientific research has
been nearly stopped. - Of course, science as the sum of our current
knowledge could merely disappear due to some cosmic disaster, but the
attempts to expand this knowledge may cease.
Science is about knowing more and more about less and less until you
know everything about nothing.

On Jul 17, 6:51*pm, Day Brown wrote:
walterimlenz wrote:
But of course, the reason why e.g. the Romans did not evolve science,
was not their lack of intelligence. Seemingly a certain structure of
society is needed to enable or motivate scientific research, e.g. some
kind of capitalism. - And the change of those structures might entail
the total stagnation of science. - Consider Orwell's 1984. He
plausibly depicts a state of society, where scientific research has
been nearly stopped. - *Of course, science as the sum of our current
knowledge could merely disappear due to some cosmic disaster, but the
attempts to expand this knowledge may cease.

Science is about knowing more and more about less and less until you
know everything about nothing.

Not THE Day Brown? I loved Da Vinci Code! This is so exciting.

Science and faith are not opposed to one another, Each has its proper
sphere, as shown in Augustine's five commentaries on Genesis.

HOW AUGUSTINE REINED IN SCIENCE (This Rock: March 1998)

Musatov

Musatov wrote:
Not THE Day Brown? I loved Da Vinci Code! This is so exciting.
No it isnt. Dan Brown wrote that book. My writing only exists in
digital format in a specially designed font and color system no book
publisher is able to deal with. http://daybrown.org
Science and faith are not opposed to one another, Each has its proper
sphere, as shown in Augustine's five commentaries on Genesis.

HOW AUGUSTINE REINED IN SCIENCE (This Rock: March 1998)
Augustine is a typical Christian ass. Only after his nuts have cooled
does he get it, that a dissolute life aint so swift. All misogynistic
religions are passe. Matriarchic religion never made a division between
itself and science anyway. It never challenged anything science had to say.