While we are at it, how about outlawing math beyond the four basic functions of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing (no long division). No algebra, trig, calculas etc. None of these were ever in the Bible, and if God didn’t need it, and Solomon didn’t know it, then who are we to make this stuff up?
Same with all books and ideas dependent on higher math. And fiction. Fiction is blasphemy that takes away from Bible reading time.
You’ve heard of fighting fire with fire, well how about fighting ignorance with ingorance!
Cecil said it, we believe it, that’s it, you’re an idiot.
Even if Sea Sorbust really meant “should congress stop funding research on the Big Bang theory,” not “should congress outlaw the Big Bang theory,” as the topic of this thread – and even if Superstring theory and the Big Bang theory did not have the interconnections that GIGObuster pointed out – even if both of those were true, it is still not at all the case that cutting the tiny bit of Federal funding that goes toward one area of scientific research will “automatically” increase funding for other areas of scientific research.
The U.S. Federal Budget is huge. It isn’t even required to be precisely balanced. At the Federal level, you do not have to cut $5 million here in order to gain $5 million there. In fact, until recently, the Federal government had been spending a few hundred billion more dollars per year than it had been receiving in taxes. Intentionally. It was called deficit spending. We no more need to cut out one paltry research program to fund another, than we need to forego buying one Stealth bomber to adequately fund our public education system.
This really makes my head hurt. Whether serious or not, some people might think he is. I mean there are people who think that, if they can not use it, or understand it, it is not useful to them or anyone else. People stated for years that we gained nothing from the moon landings, or the space program. In reality, we gained the computers most of us are using to write with. Computer technology is a direct benefit from the space program. It was NASA who made many major advances in computer technology, and information processing. If fact without NASA, you may well have been operating a 4 megahertz, computer right now. It was the challenges of science, coupled with the need to process and store information which gave us our present day conveniences. The complex problems of design, aerodynamics, and navigation, were solved by computer science. Technology advances on all scientific research, even that which at the time may not seem relevant. I am sure many people saw no practical applications for music recording, telephonic transmission, nor the use of radio waves. Most of these people remain confused, ignorant, and foolish, their entire lives.
Actually, in my country, not only unuseful theories were banned, but also the gravitation law was amended in the vicinity of airports. The reduced gravitation not only substantially reduce the cost (fuel-wise) during take off, but also increased safety during landings. An example which should be followed.
clairobscur, that’s an awesome idea! I know some climbs at the climbing wall and some hills when I ride my bicycle that can certainly benefit from gravity reduction. Besides which, think of what we could save on our gravity bill!!!
Not only that, but it sounds like a great job creation program for us physicists…Physicists to turn gravity down, physicists to turn it up, government physicists to help make sure the law is not being violated…We may have 1 million lawyers today, but soon we’ll have 1 million physicists! I’m getting giddy just thinking about it!
Have been thinking about this in the context of (Super)String Theory, and have concluded that your view of the Earth and its position relative to the BBT’s view of “the origin”, is more wrong than you can possibly imagine. (Alas, , the same comment applies to my own nearly-antithetical view of “so far away from Earth that…”).
“In science, a little more thinking frequently leads to surprises.”
Whoa. I’ve been trying desperately to talk myself out of displaying my prejudices here, but alas, though I’m violating one of those commandments (the one that reads DNFTT), I can’t help it! I am weak, weak I tell you!
Uh, me? I’m not a cosmologist and I want to know what the origins of the universe are. I should hope I’m not the only one!
Are you sure you don’t have string theory and the standard model backwards? String theory is all about voodoo math*, the standard model is all about making testable predictions, as is general relativity, and strangely enough, they actually work.
And the reason for that would be that they don’t really HAVE much anything resembling testable predictions, certainly not predictions that we can test at present.
Some thinkers also believe that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Go apples!
No no, Qwertyasdfg is quite correct; the big bang happened everywhere at once, because space was a single solitary point which has since been expanded a whole lot.
Amen! More funding to the semi-conductor guys!
Well, of course they’ll have the complete and exact solution in 1 to 6 years, just as soon as they clear up little problems like figuring out what the thing they’re solving for is and what equation they actually have to solve to get it. But other than that, and figuring out the mathematics that will be needed for doing these things, yeah, it’s not too much more cheesy than any other branch of high energy physics. Oh, fine, yet it is.
Like, g8rguy, I’d like to say that I care. Tremendously. This curiosity often keeps us from ignorance. Without it, we might still think that if you sailed far enough into the ocean, that eventually you would fall off the face of Earth.
Besides, if you outlaw the Big Bang Theory, it’s only fair to outlaw creationism along with it. No one other than theorists (for the former) and creationists (for the latter) will care anyway, right? :rolleyes:
At first I thought Sea Sorbust’s thread was foolish.
The I thought he should read George Orwell’s ‘1984’*.
Then it struck me. Maybe (just maybe) he’s onto something.
Pi. It’s irrational! People spend hours of computer time that could be used for something else calculating Pi.
When I was young, I spent several minutes learning the approximation 3.1416. All that wasted time …
LET’S MAKE Pi = 3!**
*for the benefit of some posters, this is a book. Furthermore, it was written before 1984. But (important) none of the events described in the book happened in 1984.
Sea-Sorbust-clone: “Well that settles it. Since the events never happened, we don’t need to spend time studying it!”
What Jab said. Please, o great sage Sea Sorbust, explain both String Theory and BBT. Ans please bear in mind that several of us have a solid working understanding of astronomy and astrophysics (and some of us are are professionals . . . where’s BA?).
Actually, having rethought it, I thing maybe we should ban the Big Band theory. Bebop and Hard Bop were what really stretched the boundaries of what jazz could be, so Big Bands are really irrelevant.
pldennison,if we outlaw the Big Band, should the Federal Government put those funds into String Theory? Or should it take a broader view and support the Percussion, Brass, and Woodwind Theories as well?
, the same comment applies to my own nearly-antithetical view of “so far away from Earth that…”).