Today has been a good day for smackdowns! First up, Simon White in New Scientist, punching up his previous argument:
We need to apply a hard-nosed cost-benefit analysis to dark energy projects. We must recognise the cultural differences between high-energy physics and astronomy, and be willing to argue that astronomical discoveries – that the universe expands, chemical elements were built in stars, black holes exist, planets orbit other stars – are no less significant for humanity than clarifying the underlying nature of forces and particles.
Any large new astronomical project should be designed to push back frontiers in several areas of astronomy…
If we don’t do these things, we may lose both the creative brains and the instruments that our field needs to remain vibrant. Dark energy is a Pied Piper, luring astronomers away from their home territory to follow high-energy physicists down the path to professional extinction.
Next, Pope Benedict (via Atrios and Cynical-C), putting the hurt on those nefarious splitters:
The Vatican reiterated Tuesday that the Catholic Church is the one true church established by Jesus Christ and that other Christian denominations are defective, although they have elements of truth and sanctity.
In a brief document, “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church,” the Vatican’s doctrinal office, with Pope Benedict XVI’s approval, reiterated controversial assertions made in its 2000 document, “Dominus Iesus,” that Christian denominations that do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles — can’t properly be called churches.
And finally, Senator Patrick Leahy, via Matthew Yglesias and a dozen other blogs:
A powerful elixir of sarcasm and high dudgeon mixed into a few sort sentences! Awesome.
Vote for your favorite.
I vote for a mashup: Senator Benedict excommunicates all astronomers working on dark energy, while Pope Leahy declares that high energy physicists lack true apostolic succession and therefore can’t be properly called scientists.
gotta go with the senator here. The Bush Regime is way out of control and it’s time to take the country back.
I hope the next president finally signs on to the world court and Bush/Cheney/Rove et al. are tried for crimes against humanity.
e.
Another vote for the senator.
Besides, I just read a monograph on dark energy, The Sublte Knife by cosmologist Philip Pullman, and it turns out that dark energy is responsible for human consciousness and the existence of angels.
I’m with Tyler.
But Senator Leahy chastised Sara Taylor so eloquently…
Damn, I guess the people who run this site don’t like these sort of crank theories for comic relief. Oh well, there’s always youtube.
Hi Sean,
What’s your policy on posting comments? Do you censor anything that is not offensive?
Thanks,
Annette Dartiere
This reminds me of the saying, “String theory is the only game in town.”
I am very happy to see the article by New Scientist. Dark matter really is taking physicists away from Cosmology and physics in general on larger scales.
Huge amounts of money are being spent on the particle accelerators and I can’t imagine the discoveries that would be found if the money had been used for Astrology.
Annette, I do not “censor” anything, as I’m not a government. But we do regularly delete things that are off-topic, impolite, not constructive, or just annoying.
Sean thats cute. You are not only effeminate but also pusilanimous and feckless to boot. Never had such a good laugh.
See? Now that one, I’m keeping. Come on, people, drag out that thesaurus and put a little imagination into it.
what’s another word for “thesaurus”?
Annette,
Please read this thread. I think it sums up the view on “alternative” theories.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/06/19/the-alternative-science-respectability-checklist/
e.
lt.milo: did I see your name on the NSF MPSAC?
It’s admittedly very difficult to imagine how to lower the level of the New Scientist, but Simon White has done a good job. Unfortunate that the only professional extinction would be his own. That is, if it ever qualified as a species to begin with.
Seems that Simon White’s inferiority complex is once again interfering with his scientific judgement. Side effects include foot in mouth and transparently bitter envy. Please stop giving him press.
“It’s admittedly very difficult to imagine how to lower the level of the New Scientist, but Simon White has done a good job.”
I can remember how people like this killed the SSC. When somebody connected with the SSC was asked how it was that manifestly inferior people in the community were able to do that, the answer was something like: “We underestimated them. We never thought that the prof would allow the C- students to take over the class.”
-lt.milo
I know, right? My horoscope is always a little off; I think Astrology needs a little fine-tuning.
Leahy wins going away.
On one hand, it’s not a fair fight: we get to see and hear the Senator’s fusillade (and, to even greater effect, the quivering mass of jelly that is his target) but only get a flat, monomedia reproduction of the Pope’s & SDMW’s. But I think I’d still be voting the same way even if Leahy was only represented in plain text.
————“I know, right? My horoscope is always a little off; I think Astrology needs a little fine-tuning.”———
Ahhh! sorry, I’m not sure why I put that. I probably should have put something more along the lines of Astrophysics or Astronomy. That was stupid, but you get what I mean.
Hmmm. Roman Catholic Church declares itself the One True Church. In a related Exclusive…Pope John Paul II: Still dead!
“Hmmm. Roman Catholic Church declares itself the One True Church. In a related Exclusive…Pope John Paul II: Still dead!”
What are you trying to prove?
Just messing with ya lt.milo.
I don’t believe in astrology. But then again–I’m a Leo, and sometimes we can be like that.
…manifestly inferior people in the community…
“We underestimated them [SSC opponents]. We never thought that the prof would allow the C- students to take over the class.”
Arrogant attitudes like that are one reason that not every physicist cried buckets when the SSC was killed. I think its demise had more to do with Texas vs not-Texas congressional politics than any opposition from non-high-energy physicists, though.
Simon White, love him, hate him, or think he’s misguided, is not some random joker looking for publicity. He doesn’t need that, professionally. He has some legitimate points. Lots of people went into astronomy in part because they didn’t want to be cogs in a large particle experiment. That’s not to say that being a cog is bad, but it’s not to everyone’s taste.
Gee this week the Pope declares Catholicism the only true path to salvation. In a related story the Archdiocese of Los Angeles approves a 660 million dollar settlement to children abused by priests.
You don’t even have to write a punch line for this.
elliot