h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Hoovooloo,
I just happened to pass by.
As this is not (yet?) Peer review, just a small thought.

You mention Newton as being proved wrong by Einstein. As I see it, that's the absolute view of the creationists: A theory is either absolutely right or completely wrong.
I should say: Newtow's laws are an extremely good approximation of reality unless speeds close to the lightspeed are involved. In that case a better approximation is needed. Indeed, when in relativity the lightspeed is set to infinity, you get Newton's laws again.

We allready may be in need of an even better approximation than Einstein's already.

Hi Marijn, thanks for popping by.

This entry is part of the Uni Project on Creation and Evolution, so it won't be going through Peer Review (Uni Proj's don't).

I see what you mean, but I don't think the entry implies Newton was completely wrong - as it says it *was* perfectly good for 200 years, and as you say it's right for all human-scale problems. *But* Einstein, to get his better approximation, had to take something that was very much a "given" in physics - you might even say an "article of faith" - and cast it aside. And THAT is science all over, and anathema for religion.

Similarly, Copernicus suggested that the Sun was the centre of the Universe. Of course we know that's not true either - but the MASSIVE step he took - which was a much better approximation to the "truth" - was to reject the notion that the earth was at the centre of everything.

I dealt with this progression of better approximations a bit in A685055 which DID go through Peer Review, and come to think of it, could usefully be linked to from here...

(any chance Danny?)

H.

Consider it done

As far as I remember, Copernicus was torn between his ideas and the doctrines of the church, so he said something like:
Now Look, the earth is the center of the universe, but that gives horrible mathematics. Suppose for the sake of mathematics we pretend the sun to be the center, then the formulas become very simple, but why should God want them to be simple and please put away those matches!