Knowledge is power!

[Tev]

So a few days ago I got linked to Conservapedia. I remember the site coming up in conversation here before and I’d like to have a fun little chat about it again. I spent about a whole day in the place observing the conservative spin on even the most mundane of topics and found some very interesting things.

The Conservapedia definition of a Libral is….well it definitely sets the tone for many of the rest of the entries in this place. These people seem to stand to the right of Rush.

My personal favorite thing to come of this site is the Lenski Affair. It seems one of the site’s contributors took offence to Dr Lenski’s 20 year evolution experiment and tried to call the science into question without understanding the science itself. The email exchange between them has been touted as one of the greatest scientific smack downs of the last decade or so.

One thing that did surprise me though is the very mature and humane treatment that was given of Dungeons and Dragons. For a site so steeped Right Wing craziness, they took great pains explaining that D&D was just a game and that nothing evil was taking place. Their only real concern was some of the early artwork was a little “adult oriented.”

Anyway, all that aside, I invite the rest of you to have a little fun as well. Poke around the place and see if you can find a topic or two, maybe at least one that you find totally off the wall crazy (you should see what they have to say about Feminists) and one that is more down to earth and respectful than you’d expect (this is really rather hard). Post ‘em up here so we can all have a good laugh or whatever.

[Viridis]

I wish someone would twist the article for the Theory of Gravity to be as misinformed as the one for the Theory of Evolution, and call gravity a liberal plot to prevent us from flying.

The email exchange between them has been touted as one of the greatest scientific smack downs of the last decade or so.

Just read it and it's great. I like his use at the end there of E pur si muove. I learned a neat new phrase today.

[Tev]

Wait, isn't Gravity a law?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I quite like how the article on liberalism barely addresses the fact that classically and in most of the rest of the world "liberal" means pretty much exactly the opposite of the US usage and they would be proud to be called liberals.

Edit: Everything in science is a theory, there are no laws. And even if we were to have laws we have no idea how gravity works, though there are some suggestions, so gravity wouldn't be one of them.

From the theory of evolution page:
"In addition to the evolutionary position lacking evidential support and being counterevidence, the great intellectuals in history such as Archimedes, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Lord Kelvin did not propose an evolutionary process for a species to transform into a more complex version."

This is the absolute hieght of the name-dropping art.

[krogothwolf]

But then why do they call certain things laws? Like the Law of Thermodynamics?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Well the most common view is this:
Scientific laws are collections of data into concise mathematical or verbal statements that are related to directly causal relations. They do not explain things.
Theories explain things.

I'm a bit radical in that I reject the notion of scientific laws, but even under the general classification gravity is a theory and not a law because it explains why things are attracted to each other. You could have like the inverse square law- which explains the strength of attraction with distance but you cannot explain it in a law.

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by krogothwolf

But then why do they call certain things laws? Like the Law of Thermodynamics?

For the rubes.

[bluestarultor]

Yeah, we kind of have the law of universal gravitation. That technically makes gravity a law. Just because we don't understand the magical graviton-dark matter-String Theory-Creation stuff behind it doesn't mean it's not a measurable and constant effect.

Edit: damn ninjas.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Nope. The direct mathematical relation of a force between two bodies and its changing with distance is a law. "Gravity" is a theory that this is fundamental to matter somehow. I can propose an opposing theory that the attraction is because invisible ghosts push all objects together or it is a fundamental property of space (it is anyway but my theory means it is only due to space and not due in any degree to matter). These theories may be ridiculous but the fact that I can propose them means gravity is a theory.

[krogothwolf]

That makes a lot more sense now. I wish that had been explained better back in High School.