Galileo Was Wrong

[filkertom]

And you thought the Armor of God PJs were cool.

Chicago Dyke, one of the regular commenters at Eschaton, calls our attention to Galileo Was Wrong: The Church Was Right, the First Annual Catholic Conference on Geocentrism (i.e., the belief that the Earth is the physical center of the universe).

I am curious as to what the turtle's standing on.

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I am curious as to what the turtle's standing on.

According to Stephen Hawkings in A Brief History of Time:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever", said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I can no longer distinguish real things from satire--which is this? Is it brilliant or terrifying?

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

I thought this was a joke. As a lasped Catholic who was never taught geocentrism in *Catholic* School except in the historical context of "what people used to believe", I can't decide whether to be offended or embarrassed.

[sdelmonte]

As it happens, I am rereading Pratchett's Small Gods, and in there the question is answered "it's not on anything. It's swimming. What else would a turtle do?" Or something like that.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling that there will be some anti-intellectual misuse of the fact of relative motion of objects in space?

[antinomic.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the turtle is similar to the South American frogs I have read about. You lick them for the drugs secreted by their skin. Lick the turtle, get more support for your belief. I think I need more coffee.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I like it!

[umbran.livejournal.com]

To quote professor Farnsworth, "I don't want to live on this planet any more."

I wonder how much of the question can be dispelled by simply noting that the Earth is the center of the observed universe...

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Of course the sun goes around the earth. That's perfectly observable. We only do it the other way around for science because the math is easier.

(This is my physicist husband's standard response)

[eustaciavye.livejournal.com]

I feel a migraine coming on...

[urban-terrorist.livejournal.com]

I am curious about his IQ. Is it 20? or 25?

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Dang, not only did you steal my thunder, you have a source for it! :)

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

I'm actually trying to grasp the math on how the universe revolves around the Earth...is there some voodoo physics I was never taught that explains how countless tons of matter can revolve around a small planet?

[grimmbear.livejournal.com]

Well Tom, I would say the turtle is standing on his sad, outdated, morality that has no bearing on reality in any way shape or form.

(but that's just MY opinion).

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I am vaguely curious as to how these people explain the phases of Venus.

Not so curious, however, as to waste my time reading their work.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well, it IS nice of the wack-jobs who have completely lost their shit and are residing in fantasy land to self-identify like this. We can now tag them as "utterly ignorable."

But we won't, we'll keep paying attention to them. Because everyone loves to point and laugh.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

All I can think of are salad spinners (http://www.saladspinner.net/) and Spin Art (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_art). (McDonald's has a pretty cool spin art online game (http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/promotions/Smoothies/spinart.html) to hawk their new fruit smoothies.) And those only work on one plane, not spherically.

On the other hand, even belief in gravity (http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_theory_of_gravity_as_religion) isn't necessarily taken (http://universalbelief.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=51) for (http://www.rpmministries.org/2010/09/hawking-or-god-who-do-you-believe/) granted (http://www.knowjesusknowgrace.com/teachings/38-belief/85-electricity-gravity-atoms-moleculesjesus).

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

No problem. At one point, she had arms; later, they fell off.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I pay attention mostly because they keep trying to legislate their quaint and interesting beliefs into school science curricula and policy decisions.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Extremely good point, and I was thinking as I typed that that we really shouldn't totally ignore them, because they're likely to gather up more idiots and cause trouble.

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

Lol so the Earth is, in reality, a salad spinner operating on many different planes? Oh...maybe Vihnu is operating the controls in the center of the Earth then!

Oh..and the links were quite silly really. Don't think that gravity dosn't affect you? Try and step out a 10 story window and see how little gravity cares for your beliefs (so long as you don't get distracted at the last second). Though I was somewhat interested in the last one...it started off good, then get into way to much bible quoting for me.

[poly-scott.livejournal.com]

And being a God of sorts, they periodically grow back.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I keep going back to Lois McMaster Bujold: "You may fool men. You will never fool metal."

[dysprog.livejournal.com]

That's it. I resign for the human race. I don't want to be a member any more. Not if we're letting these idiots in.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Please, I want someone to go there and ask them to explain the orbital mechanics of every planetary space probe launched in the past fifty years. Especially Voyager 1 and 2.