Krugman: Views Differ on Age of Planet

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by Ninkobei

These are good questions. If you don't know the answer to an equation in math class what do you do? Try to figure it out, right? I don't understand the immediate leap to "it must be god." But if you want to play that game, what happens if someone solves these problems 10 years down the road? Does this make god an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance? Did god somehow lose territory by someone making a scientific discovery?

OK, so science is correct, we just don't know the answer. So since we might find an answer later -- then I will report something I know is incorrect at the present time................Ah now I get it.

And no -- there isn't an immediate leap to "it must be God". The question- at least for me is why is wrong taught when it conflicts itself.

If you don't know, then just say you don't know.

[Ninkobei]

Originally Posted by dalmations202

OK, so science is correct, we just don't know the answer. So since we might find an answer later -- then I will report something I know is incorrect at the present time................Ah now I get it.

And no -- there isn't an immediate leap to "it must be God". The question- at least for me is why is wrong taught when it conflicts itself.

What is wrong with having a 'best guess'? People used to think the earth was flat. Then it was round. But today with our satellites measurements we can see that it has a slight bulge in the middle near the equator due to its rotation. But guess what, due to mass being spread out so unevenly, it's not even oval shaped. The moon causes the actual earth to constantly shift. The weight of the ocean waters causes the crust to deform.

Do all of these details mean that on a basic level the earth is not round? Certainly not. Saying the earth is round is a good basic way to describe it to a kindergartner. When they being to understand physics more then they can absorb the extra details of the earth's shape.

Science is a constantly changing process and very rarely is there an answer that is 100% true. So in a way you are right for arguing that science has imperfections. But I think you are doing yourself a dis-service to think that science can never be true. Also you seem to be aiming pretty low in your arguments. Tell me that God is the reason why the universe is expanding at a faster and faster rate and the reason for dark matter. Then you would have an argument that would at least be more difficult to be disproved. More so than "Magnets" - seriously that sounds like something Charlie Kelley would say.