Tonight on Comedy Central.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is going to be on The Daily Show tonight at 11 pm on Comedy Central. Figured ya'll might be interested.
“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” - Oscar Wilde
Tonight on Comedy Central.
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I wish I'd seen your post earlier. I missed it. Rats!
This should be it: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-january-17-2011-peter-bergen
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
Hey, thanks Astro. I'll watch it as soon as I wade through all these postings.
bikenbeer2000 posted the correct link, mine was the wrong day.
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
Interesting little discussion they had, lol. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/ is the show they were talking about, NOVA Science Now, interesting stuff! Neil is a brilliant person.
“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.” - Oscar Wilde
They were mainly speaking about manned voyages to Mars. There was no mention of 2012.
Before Neil DeGrasse Tyson came on, they did a spoof piece about astrology and how people don't know which sign they are after last week's essentially pointless revelation that there's a difference between tropical and sidereal astrology - something which astronomers have known about for upwards of 2,000 years.
A correction to Astrogeek's link: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-january-18-2011-neil-degrasse-tyson
I notice that Neil DeGrasse Tyson says that sometimes you have to imagine something, and then find out ways to make is possible. However, so many skeptics say that science doesn't work that way. His Albert Einstein quote was interesting too, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". I've been trying to train myself to think the opposite the past couple of months, because the theory I am most scared of is mostly based off of imagination, and people doing pretty much exactly what Neil DeGrasse Tyson said to do. What do you think?
I'll try and find the video I just watched the other day… very short, about 1:03, with Richard Feynman explaining how science works.
Step 1: Guess
Step 2: Calculate the results of your guess.
Step 3: Compare your calculation to Nature/Experiment.
If step 3 fails, go back to step 1.
The problem with the pseudo-scientists is that they never get to step 2 and 3. They go straight to "write a book and make money"
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
Here it is… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b240PGCMwV0
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
So how would you go about experimenting such "guesses" that some of these proponents make? Since it involves such large masses, paleomagnetics, electricity, geography, and astronomy?
Oh that's easy.
Question: How could the earth's axis of rotation change?
Guess: A large planet passing close by.
Calculation: Would the gravity of a large planet be able to change the axis of the earth? <insert some research here> It would take (n) number of newtons to change the axis of rotation (we do the calculation on the Patrick Geryl page). Nope. Result: The guess does not match reality. Start over.
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
Question: Why 2012 is real?
Guess: Because it is. <insert proof here><insert prediction here>
Calculation: - Does Nibiru can destroy Earth? No, because it doesn't exists.
- A Pole Shift will destroy Earth in 2012? No, because it takes many thousands of years to happen
- An alignment will degenerate the population in 2012? Planetary: no and isn't catastrophic. Black hole: it happens every December 21st.
- A solar flare will burn Earth/shift poles in 2012? No, because it's not so strong and not so massive/magnetic.
- An asteroid will hit Earth in 2012? No, there are not killer objects outhere in collision course to Earth.
Result: A nice hoax for a SciFi book. Reset the theory.
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