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The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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stahrwe

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The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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I just finished reading Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek. It is a fascinating look at science, and the business of Science. I don't think that Panek intended to do so but he chronicled the degree to which science follows the money and creates chaos.

The 4% Universe
n=Infinity
Sum n = -1/12
n=1

where n are natural numbers.
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ant

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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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looks interesting. thanks.

also, there is no questions there are motivations of money and prestige within the scientific community.
Peer review has also come into question.


too many gulible laymen are unaware of the internal issues, know next to nothing about justification of knowledge, or simply look to science as a universal authority to replace "god" but are unware of it

its sad.
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Interbane

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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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Here is a philosopher commenting on bias in science.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_b ... ience.html

On the flip side of the coin, many religious people use this sort of information to support their belief that science is wrong in many of it's findings.

"There is bias in science, therefore evolution is wrong and the bible is right." That is a failure on the other end of the spectrum, as bad or worse than thinking science is an infallible oracle. The enterprise may be self-correcting, but we still need to be wary of people using it to pad their wallets.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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"On the flip side of the coin, many religious people use this sort of information to support their belief that science is wrong in many of it's findings."

on the flip side, many atheists believe science has disproven the existence of a divinity
how on earth fheyve arrived at such a notion is beyond me.
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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never mind
-Geo
Question everything
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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geo wrote:never mind
why dont you just speak your mind.
youve done this before. you want to say something.
quite frankly, i want to hear it from you.

so what if someone doesnt agree with you? most likely it will be me, but you will get several "thanks" to offset my ignorance.
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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ant wrote:
geo wrote:never mind
why dont you just speak your mind.
youve done this before. you want to say something.
quite frankly, i want to hear it from you.

so what if someone doesnt agree with you? most likely it will be me, but you will get several "thanks" to offset my ignorance.
Yeah, part of me wants to participate and part of me doesn't. In the end, I really don't have much to offer that I haven't already said on this board many times. It's redundant. So I'll just pass.
-Geo
Question everything
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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a lot of whats said in the science / religion posts is redundant.
its a small group and lets face it, i have no one on my side of the fence. but so what?
ive learned a lot.
my angle has always been how science justifies itself and defending religion from being characterized as a mind virus that only leads to people flying planes into buildings. Thats stupid, dont you think?
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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ant wrote:many atheists believe science has disproven the existence of a divinity
let's look at "a divinity" , a particular one i have in mind.
"The Sun Stood Still": Joshua's "Long Day"?

The so-called “long day” recorded in Joshua 10:12-14 has generated much discussion among Bible scholars. Before Copernicus’ heliocentric solar system gained acceptance, it was argued that the sun and moon’s orbit was halted. Martin Luther, for example, reportedly denounced Copernicus and declared, “I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth” (Luther, Table Talk, pp. 358-59; cf. Calvin, Genesis, p. 61). With the advent of modern astronomy and science, however, serious objections were raised against this interpretation. Students of Scripture were forced to re-examine and re-interpret this miracle in a way consistent with the biblical text, the theology of Scripture, and the findings of modern science. ...
the moment you try to take "a divinity" literally you are on the slippery slope all the way down to idiocy.

so it all depends

science definitely disproves much literalist idiocy.
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Re: The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

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Here is an interesting portion of one of the reviews:

"The author shows that the prevailing view of the cosmos was incredibly wrong. The truth is that they/we, were missing 96% of the energy and matter of the Universe! Ninety-six percent! In other words in a physics test on the content of the universe the world's top physicists, astronomers, cosmologists on content would find majority of them with a failing grade of only 4%, by way of having never heard of let alone never seen 96% of the matter/Energy of the entire universe. Herein we hear and see as close as possible how the great minds made tremendous discoveries but though suspicious of something missing, were still missing the bulk of this universe."

It got me thinking about how reductionists claim everything ultimatley reduces to physics.
But what if our understanding of what is supposed to be the root of all explanation is wobbly?
How does that reverberate throughout other areas of science, like biology?
Can our foundation wobble without shaking up everything else in ways still unknown because we do not know just how wobbly physics is?
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