Re: virus: Discoveries and Inventions
Dave Pape (davepape@dial.pipex.com)
Thu, 6 Feb 1997 21:04:35 GMT
At 10:57 06/02/97 -0600, Ken wrote:
>On Mon, 3 Feb 1997, Reed Konsler wrote:
>
>> How about these concepts?
>>
>> Astronomy and Physics Newtonian Mechanics, Geocentrism
>> Chemistry Phlogiston, The 4 Elements, Bohr's atom
>> Biology Lamarckian evolution, Spontaneous
Generation
>> Geology Catastrophism
>>
>> Discoveries or inventions?
>
>1) Observe that these fields are interrelated. For instance, the decline
>of Catastrophism in Geology has much more to do with NeoDarwinism in
>Biology, and the doctrine of uniformitarianism, than any physical
>evidence that I have read summaries of. [It *is* compatible with
>plate tectonics. Another of the annoyances I have with current Geology
>writeups is the systematic misreporting of date estimates computed with
>most radioactive dating methods [C-14 is exempt]. It takes only College
>Algebra, or a decent philosophy background, applied to the procedure in
>question, to see that the dates are "maximum possible ages", rather than
>"ages" as reported in the literature I have read. [Or has the reporting
>convention been reformed since ~1992?]]
>
>Geocentrism *hasn't* been refuted, it just has been shown to be
>inconvenient for calculations on the scale of the solar system and larger.
Nice point! Memes coding for neat-looking solar-scale calculations did not
mesh with geocentrism memes, and the heliocentric memes seemed to produce
better evidenced predictions about how the solar system worked, and so
heliocentric memes outcompeted geocentric memes.
Dave Pape
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