Natural thinking, common sense, and science?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around perceptions of scientists and their methods of understanding the universe, particularly in relation to the age of the universe and the existence of life on other planets. Participants express skepticism about scientific conclusions and the perceived disconnect between scientific inquiry and common sense.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses frustration with scientists, suggesting that their conclusions are overly simplistic and could be derived from common sense observations.
  • Another participant counters that the knowledge of the universe's age is based on scientific discoveries, implying that the original poster's understanding is flawed.
  • There are claims that scientists are often surprised by new discoveries, such as the existence of new planets or life, which some participants view as indicative of a lack of foresight.
  • A participant draws parallels between scientific theories and religious beliefs, questioning the validity of scientific explanations like the Big Bang in comparison to creationist views.
  • One participant suggests that everything in existence can be viewed through the lens of fractals, drawing connections between atomic structures and cosmic systems.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach consensus; there are competing views regarding the role of common sense in scientific understanding and the nature of scientific inquiry itself. Some express skepticism towards scientists, while others defend the scientific method and its findings.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference various scientific concepts and theories without providing detailed explanations or definitions, leading to potential misunderstandings. The discussion reflects a mix of personal beliefs and interpretations of scientific principles.

Hexnergy
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I just watched some pbs program about the universe, and the conclusion was that existence is no accident, its the universe working for billions of years... seriously? you just wasted 1hr of my time to tell me something a little kid couldve told me in 10secs..?

Im no scientist... but i can take a quik look around and figure lotta stuff out... but these scientists take years, decades to come up with some simple answer that they couldve gotten by takin a quick look around and figuring it out from there... I always thought scientists were very smart peoples... like a higher class of human! but now that I am older they look no different than politician... teacher... priest... is like, no "common" sense at all!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What.
I really don't know what you just said. The only reason you could have told me that the universe is billions of years old is because scientists already found that out and you heard about it somewhere. If you didn't already know, you'd have no idea how old it could be.
 
Hexnergy said:
I just watched some pbs program about the universe, and the conclusion was that existence is no accident, its the universe working for billions of years... seriously? you just wasted 1hr of my time to tell me something a little kid couldve told me in 10secs..?

Im no scientist... but i can take a quik look around and figure lotta stuff out... but these scientists take years, decades to come up with some simple answer that they couldve gotten by takin a quick look around and figuring it out from there... I always thought scientists were very smart peoples... like a higher class of human! but now that I am older they look no different than politician... teacher... priest... is like, no "common" sense at all!

this is the same method by which people came to the following conclusions:

Hitler was right (I mean obviously, the bankers did it and we know all Jews are bankers!)
The Earth is flat (of course the whole tortoise thing is silly!)
The Earth is hollow and we're living on the inside of it. (personal favorite)
The Earth is the center of the universe (I mean, duhhh, there's universe forever in every direction, we MUST be at the center of it! All you have to do is look with your own eyes?)Just out of curiousity, what does your intuition tell you about the behavior of subatomic particles, Hexnergy?

Does increasing the pressure of a gas increase it's velocity? (hey! no Google!)
 
Hexnergy said:
I just watched some pbs program about the universe, and the conclusion was that existence is no accident, its the universe working for billions of years... seriously? you just wasted 1hr of my time to tell me something a little kid couldve told me in 10secs..?

Im no scientist... but i can take a quik look around and figure lotta stuff out... but these scientists take years, decades to come up with some simple answer that they couldve gotten by takin a quick look around and figuring it out from there... I always thought scientists were very smart peoples... like a higher class of human! but now that I am older they look no different than politician... teacher... priest... is like, no "common" sense at all!
I've seen that show and you apparently didn't understand it.
 
you are right! that's exactly my point... we know information about things because somebody started asking questions... and building a knowledge base, but its like today scientists are shocked to find out that the universe is this old... or there's a new planet... or this or that, i bet they going to be shocked once they find a planet with life... i mean cmon, there are planets with life out there... this planet is not special... no accident... but if you say something like this you get rediculed... but these are the same scientist that will tell you with smile on their face about the big bang... but ask them what happened before it, and they tell you its philosophy blah blah blah... wow, how about replacing big bang with creation and before big bang call it god and call yourself a priest, mr scientist? no difference really... is like the real scientist were the ancient ones makin real discoveries, observations...

even for religios people there are other stuff in their world like angels, demons, etc... i was watching a program about fracteals the other day and it occurred to me that everything that exists is a fracteal... atoms have a nucleus (sun), and electrons (planets) orbiting the nucleus... same thing with solar system orbiting center of galaxys, and probably galaxys orbiting something else... i mean, is common sense!
 
Scientists aren't "shocked" to find out the age of the universe, or that there are planets to be discovered.

This thread is locked.
 

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