If you knew my dreams you would not wish me to follow them. People might get hurt. Some of us have things in out pasts that were not all butterflies and daisies in sunshine meadows. Oh I get it, by dreams you meant goals. Sorry. Missed the metaphor. <--- Sarcasm
Like I said, sarcasm between friends is fine. No sweat.
Your super-egalitarianism rubs me the wrong way. Ideas are not all created equal. They should not be treated as such. In order for our knowledge base to evolve. The ideas have to compete. Some have to be weeded out. Treating all ideas as equal is stupid. If an idea is just plain out wrong. It should not be considered. It should buried in the ground covered with quicklime.
But that is where we have the disconnect. My 63yrs study/experience has shown me that all ideas ARE 'created equal'. Only the consideration given to them may differ in both quantity/quality, depending on the idea and the immediate interest or not which that idea induces in the author/other. When it comes to science, every idea that challenges the current understandings will either stand or fall on their merits after due scrutiny/discussion. That is all I am about. Why should I dismiss an idea just because it comes from someone I may not like or consider ignorant? It's the idea that speaks, not the source. Any scientist that has not yet learned that lesson is doomed to missing much understanding/insight opportunities. History is replete with examples where the amateur/outsider/layman has come up with something missed by the professional/expert. Humans come in many situations/opportunities circumstances, just because one hasn't been inculcated in a certain way does not necessarily diminish their innate capacity for pattern-recognition and discontinuity regions (both in space and in logic). Nature has provided humans with a survival toolkit based on intelligence and 'what ifs' to compare observations to memorized and extrapolated information about the world around us. The scientific method and education merely make certain aspects more accessible/reproducible; but at root is the individual observation and pattern-recognition etc facility at work subconsciously. That's what 'idiot savants' and 'untrained geniuses' etc etc demonstrate all the time through history.
I am glad I brought up the subject of the south park episode. In it the boys are on a football team. And in a sarcastic fit Randy the coach suggests that for safety sake, the team should all wear bras, the ball would be replaced with a balloon and points would be awarded by complimenting the members of the other team, giving them hugs, and helping them to win. The idea is that games are about having fun and not winning. That seems to be your attitude here. I am not a fan of such ideas.
I am not a sports fan. Too many drugs and politics, and the ideal has been lost (if it was ever there to begin with). I am not a naive hippy feelgood, as you imply. Being an immigrant child with the hardest working parents to be found anywhere, and having to earn everything I have ever got, just made me realize there are more important things than hate, ego, greed, abuse of power etc etc. You don't need to be a 'sissy' to appreciate the lessons of life. If humanity is to survive into our next phase of global society, then the number of people on this planet even now makes it imperative we co-operate or perish. No hippy. Just realist.
It is the positive thinking/acting that will solve our seemingly intractable global problems. Science is at the forefront of that. It should not be risked through insensitive behaviour/prejudices of those who would be scientists, since any further disrespect for science and scientists which bad behaviour produces in the global population will come back and bite us all. Being positive and supportive of anyone who is prepared to sacrifice their time and efforts in trying to come up with solutions is only the sensible thing to do. It has nothing to do with 'sport' or 'philosophy' or 'sarcasm' or other personal likes/dislikes, it has to do with facing the realities together or perishing separately.
When you say stuff like It makes me want to retch. I picture you being a child of hippies, and that you went to a super progressive school where you were mollycoddled. Maybe your name is Rainbow Sky, son of Sunshine and Storm at the commune. Sorry man, you need to grow some balls and get out in the real world.
That is probably because you bring your own 'take' to it rather than understanding why it was said in the context of science in the twenty-first century and into the longer term.
As a migrant child I went to a public school (ie, Australian govt. school, not private...I was atheist from age nine and remain so to this day). I continued into tertiary education at tech/university (night and day classes/course) and my own researches. Working a full time job and paying my own way all the way. Nothing 'mollycoddled' about me. My parents, siblings and extended family were loving and supportive.
Nothing particularly 'sinister' in that, I trust? (Sarcasm....as between friends!).
Regardless, (or is it irregardless) you should not be wasting your time convincing me of anything. I took physics in high school but our teacher was the spanish teacher because the physics teacher got fired. I learned zip. In University I took Intro to Physics which was not what you would call rigorous. I did take a little more maths than most, but after 35 years, its mostly been forgotten. Trying to get it back. I have read some books. Have a basic understanding. So I am not your audience. Despite your cheery egalitarian composure, you picked me to reply to because I seem to be "easy pickings." Well convincing me of anything means about zilch.
When memory gets full, the trick is to jettison what is learned by rote and concentrate on questioning and understanding anew all that which you assumed to be correct because it was assumed to be correct by others before you. It is only then that your true education/understanding begins to dawn about the universe and society and life and reality in which you function/observe.
Herd mentality is all well and useful when in a herd of sheep, but an individual brain-mind needs more than just 'cover' and 'safety in numbers' if he is to go exploring where no-one has been before. This is true in any field of original endeavour. The pedestrian is comfortable/complacent, but not necessarily in possession of the facts of the reality which the explorer finds and has not yet communicated 'back home'. That's how I view all would-be experimenters/ideas-people who follow their curiosity/dreams instead of the herd instinct. You can laugh, but then you are not in any position to judge others according to your own standards unless you have walked a mile in the shoes of the explorer, whoever they may be or wherever they got their thirst to find out by their own efforts where the existing story does not satisfy that need to know.
I find your arguments to be mostly hand waving. And not in the G. E. Moore sense of hand waving. Your entire argument for the aether is composed of arguments similar to King Arthur explaining how he got coconuts. There is no evidence for aether. If there was it would be big news and we would all hear about it the same way we laymen hear about Dark Energy. The "science" segment on the regular news media. The recent brouhaha about neutrinos traveling faster than light proves that the scientific community is not conspiring to stifle theories even aether theories. If aether is real it will eventually be discovered. But only after evidence is found. It is an easy thing to understand.
My arguments? Nothing like it yet. My TOE has not yet been published. And my forays here and elsewhere on the (four) discussion sites I post in occasionally were investigations into others takes on everything, and whatever I may have posted about my own perspective has been as part of 'researching' and 'sounding boarding' etc. You have not yet seen any complete arguments from me, but merely comments/alternative vies when discussing others alternative views. Occasionally I make hypotheses to test what others have to say about a subject I am interested in comparing views on, but that's about it. Until you do have my complete perspective, you don't actually know what my 'arguments' are, but merely see piecemeal challenges/questions/discussions with others about the merits of others arguments.
Sorry to go off like a firecracker on you. No hard feelings Mate. <--- crap I did it again!
No problem, mate. Common understandings don't come easy....even between friends. One has to work hard and take the occasional temper tantrum in one's stride if a friendship is worth it......for the sake of science and humanity. Cheers!
