I feel uneasy saying this in such a public or out loud arena, but I suppose it needs saying. I myself am, well, I'm not sure if I'm religious or not (I had no religious teaching until high school, as my parents wanted me to choose my own beliefs), but I have a burning need to play the devil's advocate here, so bear with me.
Those burned by something are the strongest critics. This is not the time nor place to reopen the wounds caused by those that wore you down, especially by me, because I do not know what happened. And I will not lie and claim to understand or 'have been there'. I have not had that experience, and have no intent of insulting you by saying I have.
Your blade is sharp and well honed. This is very true. But it was wielded not at those who forged it, but within range of your brothers and sisters at arms who gathered 'round. But it was a swipe of catharsis, so as you mentioned, it is liberating, and must be done. So I will not fault you on that.
Now the devil's advocate bit. Science, as I see it, is not of discovering the truth, but of modeling it. You know as well as I do that a hypothesis and a theory are observations, statements about what we find in nature, and are attempts to model it, testable to see if the model fits. Sometimes, the model doesn't fit exactly. That is, the model is still false, yet usable. I'll give you an example:
Gravity. Newton's lie. The fictional force. The planet Mercury disproved this little falsehood, as its elliptical path rotates around the sun at a rate different than Isaac's equations predict. Of course, it did take an Einstein to figure out a new theory, called General Relativity, where the charlatan force is now an expression of the curvature of spacetime.
And yet, we still teach F = G mm/r^2. Like we teach Niels Bohr's model, and potential and kinetic energy equations that ignore relativistic speeds. Because the models, while imperfect, still work in many cases, and if treated not as Truth (capital T) but as models, they are still useful.
As long as a model generates results that are useful in most cases, it still has worth. If a shared concept gets required results, it can still be used. Santa does not exist, but using his image to help spread happiness is no less valid. The flat, green scraps of trees we all carry can neither sate hunger nor quench thirst, save for the shared delusion of worth we attribute to them. I could be sardonic about the value of magnetic regions on metal, but the point is made. Stupid or not, real or not, the placebo effect does have merit.
Yes, there are many flawed models out there. And those that use models as means to ignore social contracts deserve no defense from your sharpened wit. Regardless of their religion, or lack thereof, those that have harmed you are indeed stupid. You may be right about the Emperor's clothes, and our clothes as we wear the same cloth. But you have to admit, in our house, as long as it's harmless, it feels good to wear something that comfortable.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-24 11:51 am (UTC)Those burned by something are the strongest critics. This is not the time nor place to reopen the wounds caused by those that wore you down, especially by me, because I do not know what happened. And I will not lie and claim to understand or 'have been there'. I have not had that experience, and have no intent of insulting you by saying I have.
Your blade is sharp and well honed. This is very true. But it was wielded not at those who forged it, but within range of your brothers and sisters at arms who gathered 'round. But it was a swipe of catharsis, so as you mentioned, it is liberating, and must be done. So I will not fault you on that.
Now the devil's advocate bit. Science, as I see it, is not of discovering the truth, but of modeling it. You know as well as I do that a hypothesis and a theory are observations, statements about what we find in nature, and are attempts to model it, testable to see if the model fits. Sometimes, the model doesn't fit exactly. That is, the model is still false, yet usable. I'll give you an example:
Gravity. Newton's lie. The fictional force. The planet Mercury disproved this little falsehood, as its elliptical path rotates around the sun at a rate different than Isaac's equations predict. Of course, it did take an Einstein to figure out a new theory, called General Relativity, where the charlatan force is now an expression of the curvature of spacetime.
And yet, we still teach F = G mm/r^2. Like we teach Niels Bohr's model, and potential and kinetic energy equations that ignore relativistic speeds. Because the models, while imperfect, still work in many cases, and if treated not as Truth (capital T) but as models, they are still useful.
As long as a model generates results that are useful in most cases, it still has worth. If a shared concept gets required results, it can still be used. Santa does not exist, but using his image to help spread happiness is no less valid. The flat, green scraps of trees we all carry can neither sate hunger nor quench thirst, save for the shared delusion of worth we attribute to them. I could be sardonic about the value of magnetic regions on metal, but the point is made. Stupid or not, real or not, the placebo effect does have merit.
Yes, there are many flawed models out there. And those that use models as means to ignore social contracts deserve no defense from your sharpened wit. Regardless of their religion, or lack thereof, those that have harmed you are indeed stupid. You may be right about the Emperor's clothes, and our clothes as we wear the same cloth. But you have to admit, in our house, as long as it's harmless, it feels good to wear something that comfortable.