Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Astronomer: There may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in Milky Way

evman150 · 02-25-2009, 11:12 PM

I'm not disagreeing with what you said. I'm disagreeing with your reasons you give for what you said. Namely that they are baseless and ignorant.

Claims aren't ignorant. Well some are, but your's aren't. But your reasons for making the claims are most definitely ignorant.

In astrophysics, a lot of the time we lack absolute 'proof'. A lot of astronomy isn't testable. We make inferences; we extrapolate a small, hopefully representative bit of data into a generalization about the nature of the universe. You can't ask for absolute proof of anything. That's not being scientific and skeptical, it's being nihilistic and obtuse.

And btw, it's 'tenets', not 'tenants'.

02-25-2009, 11:12 PM	#61
evman150 #1 Goaltender Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Richmond, BC Exp:	I'm not disagreeing with what you said. I'm disagreeing with your reasons you give for what you said. Namely that they are baseless and ignorant. Claims aren't ignorant. Well some are, but your's aren't. But your reasons for making the claims are most definitely ignorant. In astrophysics, a lot of the time we lack absolute 'proof'. A lot of astronomy isn't testable. We make inferences; we extrapolate a small, hopefully representative bit of data into a generalization about the nature of the universe. You can't ask for absolute proof of anything. That's not being scientific and skeptical, it's being nihilistic and obtuse. And btw, it's 'tenets', not 'tenants'. __________________ "For thousands of years humans were oppressed - as some of us still are - by the notion that the universe is a marionette whose strings are pulled by a god or gods, unseen and inscrutable." - Carl Sagan Freedom consonant with responsibility.