Time dilation, length contraction, Relativity and the Bible!

Started by Mousetrap, August 13, 2018, 08:21:38 AM

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Baruch

Quote from: Mike Cl on September 09, 2018, 02:39:45 PM
And what of the canals?  They fooled many for many years.

Early on, scifi ran away with the imagination.  Cyrano De Bergerac ... did the first scifi story about the Moon.  One hundred years ago, a shield against gravity was imagined, allowing a much less impactful trip to the Moon than a giant cannon in Florida.  I have visited the observatory in Flagstaff, and honored Percival Lowell's grave.  But it was his student Clyde Tombaugh, who made the real discover, Pluto.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: Mike Cl on September 09, 2018, 02:39:45 PM
And what of the canals?  They fooled many for many years.
And the sad thing about that, is that the 'canals of Mars' thing was entirely due to mistranslation.  The astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described what he saw as canali, which isn't the Italian for 'canals'.  It means 'channels'.  A channel is a natural formation; a canal is not.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on September 10, 2018, 09:27:22 PM
And the sad thing about that, is that the 'canals of Mars' thing was entirely due to mistranslation.  The astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described what he saw as canali, which isn't the Italian for 'canals'.  It means 'channels'.  A channel is a natural formation; a canal is not.

And even the channels weren't really there.  Those telescopes at ground level with ripples in the atmosphere were REALLY bad.  You could see anything you wanted to see.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Mike Cl

Quote from: Cavebear on September 12, 2018, 05:35:48 AM
And even the channels weren't really there.  Those telescopes at ground level with ripples in the atmosphere were REALLY bad.  You could see anything you wanted to see.
Just like the bible.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Cavebear

Quote from: Mike Cl on September 12, 2018, 09:02:29 AM
Just like the bible.
Interesting.  Didn't Satan show Jesus the whole world from a mountaintop?  Obviously the world was flat back then.  Oh but wait, it isn't.  So the bible must have been corrected, right?
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Mike Cl

Quote from: Cavebear on September 12, 2018, 09:09:34 AM
Interesting.  Didn't Satan show Jesus the whole world from a mountaintop?  Obviously the world was flat back then.  Oh but wait, it isn't.  So the bible must have been corrected, right?
How can you correct perfection???
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Cavebear

Quote from: Mike Cl on September 12, 2018, 11:20:04 AM
How can you correct perfection???

Logic and thought and study.  And little things in the religious texts.  Like pi is not exactly 3.  The Earth is not flat.  There is no deity.  For theists, one small step at a time.  ;)
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

trdsf

Quote from: Cavebear on September 12, 2018, 05:35:48 AM
And even the channels weren't really there.  Those telescopes at ground level with ripples in the atmosphere were REALLY bad.  You could see anything you wanted to see.
Well, it's possible that at the very least, the spokes and lines he recorded on Venus were a real observation...  but that what Lowell was actually seeing was the shadow of his blood vessels on his own retina, because he had his telescope stopped down so far.  It's possible â€" and I suspect probable â€" that the Martian lines have a similar source, especially coupled with the apparent changes in the face of Mars due to its own weather... and of course Lowell's own wishful thinking.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on September 12, 2018, 11:28:20 AM
Logic and thought and study.  And little things in the religious texts.  Like pi is not exactly 3.  The Earth is not flat.  There is no deity.  For theists, one small step at a time.  ;)

And America, nor any other place, is the Promised Land, nor with there ever  be utopia, no matter how much scifi you read.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Mike Cl

Quote from: Cavebear on September 12, 2018, 11:28:20 AM
Logic and thought and study.  And little things in the religious texts.  Like pi is not exactly 3.  The Earth is not flat.  There is no deity.  For theists, one small step at a time.  ;)
Cavebear, I was being factious.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on September 12, 2018, 12:40:23 PM
Well, it's possible that at the very least, the spokes and lines he recorded on Venus were a real observation... 

No way.  Venus was an opaque blank.  As Sagan said in Cosmos (here I go again with Sagan), earlier astronomers looked at Venus and just saw clouds.  Well, what are clouds?  Clouds are water.  So Venus must be all swamp.  What grows in swamps?  Ferns.  What eats ferns?  Dinosaurs.  Observation: you couldn't see anything on Venus.  Conclusion?  Dinosaurs!

LOL!
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!