Fact or Fiction The Things We Are Told

Fact or Fiction the things we are told.

I was reading an article yesterday about a meteorite that shows what looks like some fossil remains of a virus.
The article claimed that this rock came from Mars.
How on Earth can they claim such a thing? Are there Martians up there with a giant catapult launching rocks at Earth? There is no way they can know that as a fact unless the rock has 'Made in Mars' stamped on it!?
That would be proof then for sure wouldn’t it? But I’m certain that research costing billions will prove this eventually eh?
We live in an age when theories are taught as fact despite not being proven.
Oh how gullible we humans are, we will believe anything if it is in print.
Darwin's Theory of evolution is still just a theory in this day and age. Remember they still have yet to find that proverbial missing link.
Every now and then some scientist comes up with a theory about something and another scientist finds a flaw in it to disprove it. So the first scientist has to invent a theoretical particle or whatever to support his original theory. Now the scientist embarks on a quest spending billions of dollars trying to find the elusive theoretical particle. This is of course is good for the scientist and keeps a roof over his head and puts food on his table and gas in his automobile.
We the public put up with this in the name of scientific research for the benefit of the scientist sorry, mankind. Gullible are we!
There are labs all over the world that thrive on public funding some I’m sure do some good work but others well, who knows what they do?

Can we really believe what we are told these days?
Our politicians will tell us lies and partial truths just to get re elected?
They lie about weapons of mass destruction and lead us into God knows where.
Can we really trust these loonies?
We live in a society that openly promotes honesty and truthfulness.
We herald democracy and yet we hold to secrecy and deception.
We live in a world gone mad with greed and lust, for the benefit of mankind of course.

Me? Well I take it all with a pinch of salt these days.
History tells us......well the version we have been taught tells us... things don’t really change do they?

David,
your post is thought provoking. People still believe in fantasy.
This time of year it is Santa Claus and other stories passed down through the ages.

How often have you talked to someone and then they said, "To tell the truth....." Does that mean what they said before were lies? It is hard to distinguish truth, from half-truths. Most politicians have an agenda and build a case to support it. If the premise is false, everything that follows are lies. WMD's in Iraq is a good example.

David,


You are so right. People are so gullible--they believe most anything--unless it is the truth.

Just FYI, the meteorite in question, the Alan Hills meteor bears the chemical signature of Mars. Each planet has a slightly different signature based on it's size, atmosphere and geological history. We know what Mars' is because we sent the Viking probes there. Ditto with the Moon.

We have found meteorites from Mars, The Moon and several astroids.

Who said?

I did read that CT that's a good point, but how many other planets have a similar chemical signature? The meteor may not even have come from our solar system no one can say for sure.
There are a lot of rocks out there heading our way.
Theories abound about how the planets were formed from this debris, it is all interesting stuff. That meteor may be part of the same debris that formed Mars or debris thrown up off the planet after an enormous collision with a comet or large meteor.

If each planet has a unique chemical signature then that itself raises questions about how they were formed and why each has a different composition of chemicals.

Oh such mystery is the universe.

The trouble is we have to look long and hard through the rubble of fantasies to find the hidden truth.

How many people in this world are ever going to visit this page:

http://firstarktoalphacentauri.wikia.com/wiki/Alpha_Centauri_kinematics

To understand why a voyage to Alpha Centauri should take no longer than 50,000 years as an absolute maximum?

And that NO FICTION NOR FACTUAL WORKS written in the past 100 years has ever pitched such a journey in such a scientifically accurate way, before the publication of First Ark to Alpha Centauri?

(Yes I could be blowing my own trumpets here just a little bit! )

Scientific study in attempting to understand the workings of the universe and ultimately the self is the most noble of all quests. I would say that scientific research does not receive enough funding today and American schools do not put enough emphasis on science these days. Darwin may or may not have been wrong in the details, but the concept of evolution itself is in my mind beyond dispute. Evolution is simply change over time. Species undergo change over time old species vanish and new ones emerge is a statement of fact, not belief. If people weren't so ignorant of science they would not be so gullible (and believe so many of the silly claims made by the advertisers of some products).

Peter good point but in a nut shell my point was that a theory is just a theory until proven and yet we get it rammed down our throats as fact. I've seen this gradually occur over the years more and more. Whatever we believe concerning evolution it is often taught as fact not theory.
People have even faked missing link discoveries for goodness sake! Why?
Why can't they just be honest and say this is just a theory? That's the noble thing to do.

Ahad blow your trumpet loud and proud.

David,
theories and/or fantasies have been accepted as fact especially with religion. In science we expect everything to be proven. In other matters, one is to accept it on faith. Logic helps to bridge the gaps in science, but logic is not to be considered in matters of faith. Theism is not fact.

And "facts" change as our perception changes, and our perceptions change whenever we open our minds enough to take in and actually make, new observations. Even then, what we perceive is only a small fraction of true reality. We each have hold of one part of that elephant or another part, blindly insisting it's the whole animal.

Ann

Ann,
I perceive you as a wise person.

Science actually isn't about proving things 100% as that is a physical impossibility. Because of the heisenberg uncertainty principle, it is impossible to be certain of all varibles (you cannot simultaniously know the velocity and position of an elementary particle). In the scientific method, first one observes that something happens and gathers as much info as they can about it. Then one formulates an educated guess about the cause and does an experiment to confirm or refute that guess. After experimenting, one goes on to form a conclusion and then does further tests to either re-confirm or refute the original conclusion. Science is differnt from religion in a fundimental way. A religion is a belief system based on faith whereas science is a method of inquirery based on observation and repeteability (all good science experiments are repeteable). One could argue that the theory of relativity is "just a theory." However, relativity theory fits the observed evidence. Evolution, as in change over time and natural selection (creatures best suited to their environments survive best and reproduce more than less well suited creatures) provide the most plausible explaination for the diversity of life we see on earth today.

Abe F. March wrote:

David,
theories and/or fantasies have been accepted as fact especially with religion. In science we expect everything to be proven. In other matters, one is to accept it on faith. Logic helps to bridge the gaps in science, but logic is not to be considered in matters of faith. Theism is not fact.

Abe you are so right. As I am a magician I cannot even say seeing is believing these days because I spend a lot of time fooling people into believing what they think they're seeing.

I know people have created religions based on so much theoretical stuff.

alj wrote:

And "facts" change as our perception changes, and our perceptions change whenever we open our minds enough to take in and actually make, new observations. Even then, what we perceive is only a small fraction of true reality. We each have hold of one part of that elephant or another part, blindly insisting it's the whole animal.

Ann

Nicely put Ann I agree with Abe you are a wise lady.

Incidentaly there are still people around who believe the world is flat.
They want to try cycling around where I live then tell me it's flat.

Peter you have a great thinking brain I know you will go places because of it.

Well said from everyone here.

One thing I will agree is that fantasies are almost always sweeter than facts.
I would also say that as children many of us preferred to live in fantasy worlds above the real world and I for one still do...

Ahad,

I agree, it's a lot more fun.

I search for comedies on TV, the real stuff is way too sad.

Carol