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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 2:34 am
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2015 at 2:36 am by robvalue.)
Case in point, just had someone tell me "agnosticism is more rational" over at TTA. Getting a bit tired of that to be honest.
Now if Neil said that, I'd criticize him for it. Has he said such a thing? If not, I can't imagine why any sane atheist would care.
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 10:04 am
Free Buddhist, the words 'atheist' and 'atheism' are not capitalized unless they are the first word in a sentence. Atheism is not a world view.
Sure there are going to be some atheists critical of NDT. That's very likely a minority opinion. You will almost never get universal agreement on any subject in any decent-sized group. You could probably interview a bunch of guys in an exotic bar and find one who is critical of sex.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 10:14 am
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2015 at 10:15 am by Alex K.)
(April 13, 2015 at 10:04 am)AFTT47 Wrote: Free Buddhist, the words 'atheist' and 'atheism' are not capitalized unless they are the first word in a sentence. Atheism is not a world view.
Sure there are going to be some atheists critical of NDT. That's very likely a minority opinion. You will almost never get universal agreement on any subject in any decent-sized group. You could probably interview a bunch of guys in an exotic bar and find one who is critical of sex.
Reminds me of the time when I was discussing sociology with that nice stripper in some seedy night club in west texas.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 10:31 am
(April 13, 2015 at 1:07 am)rexbeccarox Wrote: Butt hurt about what?
If there's any butt-hurt at all, it's over Polaris' belief that being a human lie detector is a good defense for a claim.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 10:34 am
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2015 at 10:34 am by Alex K.)
It's not like NdGT is a pretentious boaster. In one of the last episodes of his podcast with listener questions, he beforehand explained which university lectures he attended and which ones he missed, in order to clarify where his professional expertise ends.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 11:06 am
If anything, he comes across as a down-to-earth guy, which can be a rare trait in theoretical physicists.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 11:13 am
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2015 at 11:13 am by Alex K.)
(April 13, 2015 at 11:06 am)Faith No More Wrote: If anything, he comes across as a down-to-earth guy, which can be a rare trait in theoretical physicists.
Somehow, in the public domain, one usually only gets to see the most weirdly abstract ones, such as pure string theory people (Kaku, Greene) or quantum gravity (Hawking). That can skew the perception. Stellar evolution is, paradoxically, pretty down to earth in comparison.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 11:52 am
(April 13, 2015 at 10:14 am)Alex K Wrote: (April 13, 2015 at 10:04 am)AFTT47 Wrote: Free Buddhist, the words 'atheist' and 'atheism' are not capitalized unless they are the first word in a sentence. Atheism is not a world view.
Sure there are going to be some atheists critical of NDT. That's very likely a minority opinion. You will almost never get universal agreement on any subject in any decent-sized group. You could probably interview a bunch of guys in an exotic bar and find one who is critical of sex.
Reminds me of the time when I was discussing sociology with that nice stripper in some seedy night club in west texas.
I was in one in Cocoa Beach, FL and a nice stripper mentioned she was a sky diving instructor. It turned out we had jumped from the same airport in Coolidge, Arizona. I talked about how anxious I had been about the old jump plane spewing black smoke from both engines. She informed me that it was normal for planes with radial engines to do that because crank case oil collects in the cylinders that are upside down. That oil gets burned off when the engines start, hence the billowing clouds of smoke.
Amazing what you can learn in a strip bar.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 11:54 am
(April 13, 2015 at 11:13 am)Alex K Wrote: Somehow, in the public domain, one usually only gets to see the most weirdly abstract ones, such as pure string theory people (Kaku, Greene) or quantum gravity (Hawking). That can skew the perception. Stellar evolution is, paradoxically, pretty down to earth in comparison.
Interesting. I've never actually seen Brain Greene, just read one of his books. Is he into woo like Kaku?
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Kudo's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku
April 13, 2015 at 12:07 pm
(This post was last modified: April 13, 2015 at 12:13 pm by Alex K.)
(April 13, 2015 at 11:54 am)Faith No More Wrote: (April 13, 2015 at 11:13 am)Alex K Wrote: Somehow, in the public domain, one usually only gets to see the most weirdly abstract ones, such as pure string theory people (Kaku, Greene) or quantum gravity (Hawking). That can skew the perception. Stellar evolution is, paradoxically, pretty down to earth in comparison.
Interesting. I've never actually seen Brain Greene, just read one of his books. Is he into woo like Kaku?
No, he's waaay better, and actually very reasonable for a String Theorist 
He's just more prone to coming across as somewhat "out there" due to his typical topics such as quantum uncertainty and extra dimensions etc. Generally, I would make the bold claim that many pure string theorists are often not doing science in the strictest sense in their work, because they barely ever leave the hypothetical, and I think it shows (I've written papers with "string theory" in the title, so I can't really excuse myself entirely . Working on the theoretical consistency of a model is not the same as dealing with testing of hypotheses and comparing to all kinds of experimental results to exclude models)
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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