02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Scientific Laws Mean That God has No Freedom
he one remaining area that reHgion can now lay claim to is the origin of the universe, but even here science is making progress and should soon provide a definitive answer to how the universe began. I published a book that asked if God created the universe, and that caused something of a stir. People got upset that a scientist should have anything to say on the matter of religion. I have no desire to tell anyone what to believe, but for me asking if God exists is a valid question for science... 1 
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notes30 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Good Science Fiction
Good science fiction has no dealings with fairytale magic spells, but is
premised on the world as an orderly place. There is mystery, but the
universe is not frivolous nor light-fingered in its changeability. If you put
a brick on a table it stays there unless something moves it, even if you
have forgotten it is there. Poltergeists and sprites don't intervene and
hurl it about for reasons of mischief or caprice. Science fiction may
tinker with the laws of nature, advisedly and preferably one ...Folksonomies: science science fiction
Folksonomies: science science fiction
1 notes
notes30 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
The Problem with the X-Files
The cult of The X-Files has been defended as harmless because it is, after
all, only fiction. On the face of it, that is a fair defence. But regularly recurring fiction - soap operas, cop series find the like - are legitimately
criticized if, week after week, they systematically present a one-sided
view of the world. The X-Files is a television series in which, every week,
two FBI agents face a mystery. One of the two, Scully, favours a rational,
scientific explanation; the other agent, Mulde...Folksonomies: science fiction criticism
Folksonomies: science fiction criticism
1 notes
notes20 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Inspires a Love of Life and Morality
Science enhances the moral value of life, because it furthers a love of truth and reverence—love of truth displaying itself in the constant endeavor to arrive at a more exact knowledge of the world of mind and matter around us, and reverence, because every advance in knowledge brings us face to face with the mystery of our own being. 
1 Because knowledge brings us face to face with the mystery of our existence.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Enhances Spiritual Values
Decades spent in contact with science and its vehicles have directed my mind and senses to areas beyond their reach. I now see scientific accomplishments as a path, not an end; a path leading to and disappearing in mystery. Science, in fact, forms many paths branching from the trunk of human progress; and on every periphery they end in the miraculous. Following these paths far enough, one must eventually conclude that science itself is a miracle—like the awareness of man arising from and th... 1 notes
notesBy showing us the magnificence of our universe.
16 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Feynman on God
On the contrary, God was always invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws will explain, such ... 1 notes
notesGod is used to explain what we haven't figured out yet.
23 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Consciousness is the Last Mystery
Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenomenon that people don't know how to think about—yet. There have been other great mysteries: the mystery of the origin of the universe, the mystery of life and reproduction, the mystery of the design to be found in nature, the mysteries of time, space, and gravity. These were not just areas of scientific ignorance, but of utter bafflement and wonder. We do not yet have the final answers to any of the questions ...Folksonomies: science consciousness
Folksonomies: science consciousness
1 notes
notesNot because we don't understand it, There are lots of things we don't understand, but because we don't even know how to think about it.
18 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Jargon Scares People Away from Science
I would have you to observe that the difficulty & mystery which often appear in matters of science & learning are only owing to the terms of art used in them, & if many gentlemen had not been rebuted by the uncouth dress in which science was offered to them, we must believe that many of these who now shew an acute & sound judgement in the affairs of life would also in science have excelled many of those who are devoted to it & who were engaged in it only by necessity &... 1 notes
notesHaving to work through technical terminology is a barrier to bringing science to everyone.
08 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Explanation of the Higg's Boson
Protons are more massive than electrons, for example, and electrons are way more massive than neutrinos. Photons have no mass at all. For most us, that's no more than a fun fact (and not all that much fun, really). For physicists, though, it's a mystery that demands a solution. Why are the masses so different — and why do any particles have any mass at all?
The answer, suggested several scientists back in the 1960's, is that the entire universe is suffused with a sort of energy field — i...Folksonomies: physics
Folksonomies: physics
1 notes
notesA descent, down-to-earth explanation of the Higg's Particle and why it matters.
31 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Beauty of Newton's Hypothesis
Newton supposed that the case of the planet was similar to that of [a ball spun around on the end of an elastic string]; that it was always pulled in the direction of the sun, and that this attraction or pulling of the sun produced the revolution of the planet, in the same way that the traction or pulling of the elastic string produces the revolution of the ball. What there is between the sun and the planet that makes each of them pull the other, Newton did not know; nobody knows to this day;...Folksonomies: gravity hypothesis
Folksonomies: gravity hypothesis
1 notes
notesIs that it worked, produced measurable results and predictions, and it didn't matter that what gravity is remained a mystery.
