/sci/ - Science & Math

If we say that a rock is 3 million years old, we do so assuming that the decay rate of a certain element within the rock has been consistent throughout that 3 million years, and we also assume that we know the original state of that element from the “beginning.” It is not intellectually untenable to make these assumptions, but neither is it intellectually untenable to reject these assumptions.

What's the hardest "recreational drug" to make?

OH SHIT, HOW ARE THEY BYPASSING CAPTCHA? TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!

>Dominant paradigms in science and their attendant anomalies

http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2010/07/18/dominant_paradigms_in_science_and_their

Let's talk about it.

Naturalism is an ontological commitment, and even skepticism requires, paradoxically, a fair amount of faith, which is just to say dedication to truth and meaning even in the face of temptation.

>myface.jpg

> Once when I was filling out a form for a female client I asked if she knew how old her husband was. She told me she didn’t know. I asked her the next question on the form, which was her husband’s birth date. Amazingly, she knew it — and was genuinely surprised when I told her she could figure out her husband’s age from his birth date.

http://www.amren.com/ar/2003/09/index.html

How does this make you feel?

Genomics may reveal that humans really are brothers and sisters under the skin. The species is young, so there has been little time for differences to evolve. Politically, that would be good news. It may turn out, however, that some differences both between and within groups are quite marked. If those differences are in sensitive traits like personality or intelligence, real trouble could ensue.

People must be prepared for this possibility, and ready to resist the excesses of racialism, nationalism and eugenics that some are bound to propose in response. That will not be easy. The liberal answer is to respect people as individuals, regardless of the genetic hand that they have been dealt. Genetic knowledge, however awkward, does not change that.