(March 29, 2021 at 4:48 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote:Quote:Because nobody is adding any since it [Ptolomy] was proven wrong.
The reason why no one is adding to it has to do with scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts, not because of its "proven" wrong:
"Although it is not uncommon for people to say that Copernicus proved Ptolemy wrong, that is not true. As in the case of our normal view versus that of the goldfish, one can use either picture as a model of the universe, for our observations of the heavens can be explained by assuming either the earth or the sun to be at rest" -Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design.
It is true that Copernicus didn't prove Ptolemy wrong. If he did, the Copernican view would've prevailed (despite the church).
The problem is that Copernicus' theory didn't make correct predictions either. Both needed epicycles.
Hawking's point was not that one can arbitrarily chose any theory you like.
Bound to Earth, without telescopes or other evidence, and without any theoretical framework of gravity, either explained the observations equally poorly. The point is to find more evidence, and to create a mathematical framework that can make further predictions.
Science doesn't get involved with "proofs". That's mathematics. Science is about pragmatism. A theory works and is useful or it doesn't. The best theories are even "beautiful", in that they explain so much with so few assumptions. Evolution is one of those.
