Lee Smolin is the author of what some consider to be a "hot" book, in that it has provided some great debate and mud slinging within the scientific community. Smolin has taken a stance that string theory will not pan out and is pretty much a waste of time in his book, The Trouble with Physics. He has come under fire for giving the impression that he thinks the study of string theory, which is the belief that everything is unified and consistent in this universe, is a pointless task. The truth is, there have been too many breakthroughs in ST to deny that it is a viable possibility. Smolin supports the idea that we should question any theory that we are studying today, which I also completely agree with, but he doesn't really apply it in this case. "I'll believe it when I see it, but not until." What's up, Thomas? Haven't seen you since...sheesh..the BIBLE. If everyone who ever tried to prove anything listened to idiots like Smolin, we'd have nothing. We'd still be living on a flat earth. We'd never have been on the moon. We wouldn't know the joy of Twinkies.
Now, it is one thing to go against something and speak out against it. It is another to speak out and then backtrack after you are fired upon by the subject's supporters. Smolin, sadly, is a great mind, but apparently not a great debater. The book makes some "esoteric" claims that I simply cannot believe aren't just downright derogatory towards ST. The point of his book, he states, is to merely say that String Theory isn't the ONLY answer to the great question of how everything is connected, but just one. Trying to play it down, I believe. Well, that sure isn't how it reads, Mr. Smolin. For someone who's written numerous technical papers, some even on String Theory itself, you seem to need to go back and take a few English classes and learn what some of us call "tone".
He has even stated that some of his closest friends are string theorists. To me, that is a claim similar to a person accused of racism stating they have "lots of black friends".
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
An Albatross
No, not the band.
The bird.
You know, the bird that scientists are using to get data on the weather and water conditions for the North Pacific Ocean?
Yes, it is true. Scientists have decided, that out of all the birds around the Pacific ocean, the albatross is the best choice. Why, you might ask? They are great in the air, using wind gusts and the like to fling their bodies across wind currents with ease. The albatross makes flying look like a piece of cake. The albatross is also excellent in the water, feet being webbed like that of a duck, and are pretty solid on land as well. That said, they usually live and nest around water, preferring to call islands home as they hunt the pelagic for food. The perfect specimen to do an oceanographer's dirty work for him, collect the dirty facts that satellites cannot achieve or collect.
The number of species of Albatross is of constant debate. The common number you hear for number of species is 21, but it ranges from 13 to 24. Who knows. Scientists disagreeing, now that's a new one. They are also thought(Sibley-Ahlquist) to have descended second in line from a Cretaceous creature known as a Tytthostonyx.
The funny thing is, while the albatross is seemingly a golden candidate to act as vessel for this research, the cold hard fact is that almost all of the species of this particular bird are currently threatened with extinction. Now, I ask you, when a scientist says "Well, if we use the actual bird in question," this same oceanographer collecting data on the Pacific, "that is endangered, we can better determine how to stop the extinction of the species by monitoring its contact with fishing boats and other human threats."
Excuse me, isn't that kind of a cop-out? Is that like saying, "hey, let's do genetic research on the last 2 hippos on earth so that we can better determine why their life expectancy is so short and they're not reproducing?"
Seems to defeat the purpose, does it not? Interfering with these birds is probably the last thing they need in order to survive. Less commercial fishing? Yes. Duh. The entire ocean needs that. Over-fishing the Gulf has caused a population overflow of jellyfish, thus killing a ton of the fish population there(look it up). We definitely do not need John Q Researcher to tell us commercial fishing of our oceans is killing species.
We might be human, but we aren't complete idiots.
As for the band, rock on. An Albatross's "We are the lazer viking" was a great one.
The bird.
You know, the bird that scientists are using to get data on the weather and water conditions for the North Pacific Ocean?
Yes, it is true. Scientists have decided, that out of all the birds around the Pacific ocean, the albatross is the best choice. Why, you might ask? They are great in the air, using wind gusts and the like to fling their bodies across wind currents with ease. The albatross makes flying look like a piece of cake. The albatross is also excellent in the water, feet being webbed like that of a duck, and are pretty solid on land as well. That said, they usually live and nest around water, preferring to call islands home as they hunt the pelagic for food. The perfect specimen to do an oceanographer's dirty work for him, collect the dirty facts that satellites cannot achieve or collect.
The number of species of Albatross is of constant debate. The common number you hear for number of species is 21, but it ranges from 13 to 24. Who knows. Scientists disagreeing, now that's a new one. They are also thought(Sibley-Ahlquist) to have descended second in line from a Cretaceous creature known as a Tytthostonyx.
The funny thing is, while the albatross is seemingly a golden candidate to act as vessel for this research, the cold hard fact is that almost all of the species of this particular bird are currently threatened with extinction. Now, I ask you, when a scientist says "Well, if we use the actual bird in question," this same oceanographer collecting data on the Pacific, "that is endangered, we can better determine how to stop the extinction of the species by monitoring its contact with fishing boats and other human threats."
Excuse me, isn't that kind of a cop-out? Is that like saying, "hey, let's do genetic research on the last 2 hippos on earth so that we can better determine why their life expectancy is so short and they're not reproducing?"
Seems to defeat the purpose, does it not? Interfering with these birds is probably the last thing they need in order to survive. Less commercial fishing? Yes. Duh. The entire ocean needs that. Over-fishing the Gulf has caused a population overflow of jellyfish, thus killing a ton of the fish population there(look it up). We definitely do not need John Q Researcher to tell us commercial fishing of our oceans is killing species.
We might be human, but we aren't complete idiots.
As for the band, rock on. An Albatross's "We are the lazer viking" was a great one.
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