The Stage Theory of Theories

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by Cenderawasih, Jan 27, 2022.

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  1. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Show me that demonstration and you win another stuffed bear

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  3. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Ya know what you're doing wrong right now? Imagining that you have the answer to everything.

    But I don't mind. You're kinda clever

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  5. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    I'd say it's a respectable position. But there are a couple of strong arguments against it.
     
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  7. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    I'd like to think you're right, friend, but the history of science suggests otherwise.

    Can you name a scientific theory that wasn't abandoned within 200 years or so?
     
  8. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Ahem, ever read those evo-devo folks?

    I hereby challenge you again to articulate the principle of natural selection in a way that it not utterly vacuous.

    For the sake of science and sensible conversation. Ok?

    I will apologize if I'm wrong.
     
  9. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Let me get the ball rolling . . . those organisms with traits beneficial to survivial and reproduction will tend to . . . um, survive and reproduce more successfully than those without.

    Does that sound about right?
     
  10. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    I did say above. One point at a time, pal. I'm dizzy here LOL
     
  11. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Please don't get me wrong. Darwin did his best. But gimme 100 years and people will be laughing at this natural selection tautologous crap
     
  12. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Sure.

    Evolution by natural selection is the idea that species change over time in response to changes in the environment and as a result of competition between individuals within the species and with other species. The key ideas are that variation in individuals is produced at random (via various processes), and that individuals that are better adapted to the overall environment in which they find themselves preferentially survive to pass on inherited characteristics to the next generation.

    I can expand on what "better adapted" means, if you like.
     
  13. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Ok, here's your trivia question, my friend.

    What explains dark peppered moths becoming more prevalent in sooty Victorian England?

    1. Their black skin, or

    2. Those more likely to survive will tend to survive (= natural selection)

    Get me?
     
  14. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Ok, but you can you define "better adapted" without reference to survival and reproduction?

    See the prob yet?


    All you're saying is "those more suited to survive (those better adapted) will do it better than than the less fit (= those less able to survive and reproduce)

    And you don't need to get off your armchair to establish that
     
  15. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    It's like saying "the casino has the upper hand therefore the casino will tend to win"

    Are you with me?
     
  16. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Newtonian mechanics isn't a "false theory", for reasons I explained above. It is perfectly adequate for getting us to the Moon, not so good for explaining the bending of light by the Sun, and so on.
    No, but I know plenty of contemporary physicists who still use Newtonian gravity theory to calculate things, such as how to get a rocket to the moon.
     
  17. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Have you read Moliere?

    Tee hee
     
  18. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    That's news to me. Got a quote/link?

    Oh. How disappointing.

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    It sounds like you want to have a discussion on a different topic than the one you started with. That would be better had in a different thread, I think.

    I'm surprised to learn that you believe the theory of natural selection has no explanatory power. For a moment there, you sounded as if you knew something about evolution. Maybe try a google search, for starters?
     
  19. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    If you don't trust me, will you trust Albert Einstein?



    "We can indeed see from Newton's formulation of it that the concept of absolute space, which comprised that of absolute rest, made him feel uncomfortable; he realized that there seemed to be nothing in experience corresponding to this last concept. He was also not quite comfortable about the introduction of forces operating at a distance. But the tremendous practical success of his doctrines may well have prevented him and the physicists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from recognizing the fictitious character of the foundations of his system." - "On the Methods of Theoretical Physics", Einstein,


    How do you interpret "fictitious character"? LOL

    What Albert is saying is, as you are, Newtonian mechanics is instrumentally useful but a conceptual mess.
     
  20. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Okay...
    Sure. It's true that some kids love unicorns. For example.
    How do you know there exist no horse-like creatures with a single horn?
    ??

    I said some true things about Newtonian gravity above. Am I missing something?
    Compare what Newton's gravity says with what you see "in reality", I suppose.

    How do you determine whether anything refers to anything in reality, or not?
     
  21. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Give me an example of its explanatory power then. I'm asking nicely.
     
  22. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    A specific discussion of the successes and failures of the phlogiston theory seems to me to be peripheral to the topic of this thread. Perhaps a topic for a different thread?

    For myself, I'm not really that interested in digging into the details of phlogiston theory to show where it is false. But perhaps somebody else will be interested to take you up on your offer.
    Please remind me.
     
  23. Cenderawasih Registered Member

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    Because my father lied to me and I searched everywhere.
     
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