Vacancies for Heroes

Started by Frank, October 01, 2020, 09:28:03 PM

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Frank

Early last century physics took a wrong turn and went up a blind alley. It will need to retrace its steps.

Simone Weil, had the situation bang to rights when in her essay, "La Science et nous" she wrote,

Quote"What is disastrous is not the rejection of classical science but the way it has been rejected. It is wrongly believed it could progress indefinitely and it ran into a dead end about the year 1900; but scientists failed to stop at the same time in order to contemplate and reflect upon the barrier, they did not try to describe it and define it and, having taken it into account, to draw some general conclusion from it; instead they rushed violently past it, leaving classical science behind them.

And why should we be surprised at this? For are they not paid to forge continually ahead? Nobody advances in his career, or reputation, or gets a Nobel prize, by standing still. To cease voluntarily from forging ahead, any brilliantly gifted scientist would need to be a saint or a hero, and why should he be a saint or a hero? With rare exceptions there are none to be found among the members of other professions.

So the scientists forged ahead without revising anything, because any revision would have seemed a retrogression; they merely made an addition."
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

FamilyRosary

The whole Modern Era can be looked upon as a kind of morality play, with main characters named More, Bigger, Better and Faster. The climax of the play sees the absolute ruin of all four of them, brought down by their own hubris, greed, and total lack of restraint. The ending of the play, when we find out if any kind of redemption is possible at all for these miscreants, remains to be written.

Science does not inevitably lead to atheism. Absence of humility and love of excess do. What kind of scientists can we expect to emerge from a society that promotes adulation of self? As a child the more I learned about the natural world the more my sense of awe for the greatness of our Creator grew. For too many of us in the past two centuries the tremendous advances in science and technology have only spawned a contempt for God and religion. The ancient Romans through their imperial conquests acquired a vast knowledge of foreign lands and their peoples and cultures, yet they enslaved them and packed stadiums to see them tortured to death. Without love and fear of God, no human endeavor can produce anything but misery and destruction.

Great Simone Weil quote, by the way. I had never read it before.
The family that prays together stays together.

Greg

QuoteSo the scientists forged ahead without revising anything, because any revision would have seemed a retrogression; they merely made an addition

Reminds me of apparition chasers.

Will Xavier be back at the end of the month and admit he was wrong?  Nah, just say he meant a spiritual WW3.
Contentment is knowing that you're right. Happiness is knowing that someone else is wrong.

Frank

Don't roast him to a cinder when he's back.
Just nice and crisp in the outside and pink
in the middle. :madsmiley:
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

Frank

Quote from: FamilyRosary on October 02, 2020, 12:28:18 AM
The whole Modern Era can be looked upon as a kind of morality play, with main characters named More, Bigger, Better and Faster. The climax of the play sees the absolute ruin of all four of them, brought down by their own hubris, greed, and total lack of restraint. The ending of the play, when we find out if any kind of redemption is possible at all for these miscreants, remains to be written.

Science does not inevitably lead to atheism. Absence of humility and love of excess do. What kind of scientists can we expect to emerge from a society that promotes adulation of self? As a child the more I learned about the natural world the more my sense of awe for the greatness of our Creator grew. For too many of us in the past two centuries the tremendous advances in science and technology have only spawned a contempt for God and religion. The ancient Romans through their imperial conquests acquired a vast knowledge of foreign lands and their peoples and cultures, yet they enslaved them and packed stadiums to see them tortured to death. Without love and fear of God, no human endeavor can produce anything but misery and destruction.

Great Simone Weil quote, by the way. I had never read it before.

With me it led to heresy. Scientific heresy that it, not religious heresy.
On the contrary, my scientific discoveries strengthened my faith immeasurably.
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

Greg

Quote from: Frank on October 02, 2020, 01:24:54 AM
Don't roast him to a cinder when he's back.
Just nice and crisp in the outside and pink
in the middle. :madsmiley:

Impossible to roast him.

Because reality does not matter to such people.
Contentment is knowing that you're right. Happiness is knowing that someone else is wrong.

Frank

I lost my faith in scientific dogma gradually thoughout my government service and
right up to the present in my retirement. The culmination was the finding reported
in the video thread that radioactive decay is variable -
which is why I started this thread.

The apogee of my work (BRE - Building Research Establishment) was my director
(at the instigation of his deputy which I discovered later) banning me from writing
internal notes.

He had taken exception to my latest.
Iterative Hierarchical Mechanics.

to be continued
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

Frank

So I replied to the director asking how I could appeal against his ruling.

My memo amused the people in admin who handled all files.
They said it was like asking someone for his sword so you could stab him with it.

Director Rex Watson then sent my note to all S.P.S.O.s (equivalent army rank: Brigadier) in
charge of the establishment divisions. He hoped they could find faults. None of them did.

Mind you, I'm sure they could have done if they tried. Fortunately they all hated him so
much (he had been sicked up on us from Porton Down) that there was no way they were
going to co-operate with his little scheme.

Rumour has it that he sent it to Sir Hermann Bondi with the same result.
He then set up a panel of professional engineers in secret asking their opinions.
Fortunately, admin "accidently" sent me the file with their replies.
I promptly refused to appear before that committee citing their pre-judgement
and lack of competence in scientific matters.

At that point I think the powers that be must have stepped in and agreed to
appoint a panel of three supposedly eminent scientists to judge the matter -
which I accepted.

to be continued
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

Frank

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din.'

He holds him with his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,' quoth he.
'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He holds him with his glittering eye—
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est

Frank

in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est