After being a member at SciForums for about three months, I have found that "freedom of expression" somehow translates into "freedom to express my dumb ass opinion about space and time, and ignore all expert opinions to the contrary".
Why is it that people who work their whole lives to understand the nature of the universe at its most fundamental level can be written off completely as "members of the scientific establishment"?
Why is it that people think that they can be as intelligent or as insightful as Einstein, and that every piece of drivel posted on the internet has some sort of scientific merit?
Why is it that people who can't understand the fundamental mathematical assertions behind their arguments can believe their own theories but think that GR, or quantum mechanics, or (insert real physics here) is wrong?
Does somone who claims that, say, general relativity is wrong have any moral authority to rebuke those who claim that HIV doesn't cause AIDS (i.e. MetaKron), that the universe was created in a ball of water two light years wide 6000 years ago (IceAgeCivilizations), that the Illuminati somehow control all of life on this planet (MattMarr), that global warming is wrong, that Intelligent Design is correct, or that the Holocaust didn't occur?
This is part of a wider problem in America---that is, the devaluation of scientific though. More examples: people who think that crystals have "powers" (one of my mom's friends), that intelligent design should be taught in schools (the president), that Astrology is real (there's a collumn in EVERY paper in America) and that the Earth could possibly be 6000 years old.
I won't post any links---it should be easy enough to locate the posts that I'm talking about.
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I should clarify---I have absolutely no problem with people asking questions about things. Like "How do we know that time is a dimension?" What I have an ENORMUS problem with is someone claiming to have a new theory of everything when it is clear that they don't have a high school education.
Why is it that people who work their whole lives to understand the nature of the universe at its most fundamental level can be written off completely as "members of the scientific establishment"?
Why is it that people think that they can be as intelligent or as insightful as Einstein, and that every piece of drivel posted on the internet has some sort of scientific merit?
Why is it that people who can't understand the fundamental mathematical assertions behind their arguments can believe their own theories but think that GR, or quantum mechanics, or (insert real physics here) is wrong?
Does somone who claims that, say, general relativity is wrong have any moral authority to rebuke those who claim that HIV doesn't cause AIDS (i.e. MetaKron), that the universe was created in a ball of water two light years wide 6000 years ago (IceAgeCivilizations), that the Illuminati somehow control all of life on this planet (MattMarr), that global warming is wrong, that Intelligent Design is correct, or that the Holocaust didn't occur?
This is part of a wider problem in America---that is, the devaluation of scientific though. More examples: people who think that crystals have "powers" (one of my mom's friends), that intelligent design should be taught in schools (the president), that Astrology is real (there's a collumn in EVERY paper in America) and that the Earth could possibly be 6000 years old.
I won't post any links---it should be easy enough to locate the posts that I'm talking about.
=====================
Added in Edit
=====================
I should clarify---I have absolutely no problem with people asking questions about things. Like "How do we know that time is a dimension?" What I have an ENORMUS problem with is someone claiming to have a new theory of everything when it is clear that they don't have a high school education.
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