Re: Expelled: If you don't believe in holy physics dogma ; you're

On Jun 27, 9:35 am, blackhead <larryhar...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> A charge is the source of E and H which are orthogonal and propagate
> independently from it as given by the Lienard-Wiechert field
> equations. I think that's all Bill is saying which isn't wrong, is it?

No, Bill isn't wrong.

And I also differ with "Maxwell's" assertion that we've drifted off-
topic. The original topic was the Ben Stein "Expelled" do***entary
which probed the issue of "faith-based" physics dogma being protected
by political means. That is still the topic here even though we are
using examples different from the "intelligent design" one of the
film.

What gets me is that when someone "questions authority" the dogma crew
usually first name-calls using the "tinfoil hat ploy" which implies
that if the person with the "new" idea is insane, then what they say
isn't worth even considering, which is often followed by suggestion to
"go read some Freshman textbooks on the subject". The latter assumes
that somehow "freshman textbooks" are the ultimate authority on what
is true and what is not! Obviously that is a lie. EXPERIMENT is the
ultimate authority!

Any of you guys ever talk to authors of freshmen textbooks? First off,
they all admit that copying older books is a way of life, so that the
perpetuation of error becomes an automatic factor built into the
process. And furthermore, being "introductory" guides these books all
have to use a "lowest common denominator" approach.  Therefore that
they are bibles of dogma should be no surprise. But given this, many
such texts are still careful to word statements in ways such that when
exactly and correctly read they do NOT present doubt as dogma.
However, most of those reading these books do not take time to examine
such wording with an exacting eye. They simply see what they already
believe and see it all as affirmation of the dogma that they believe
in their hearts.

And the problem is that all this combines to lead students AWAY from
true authority (experiment) and toward a blind acceptance (which is
further reinforced by the necessity of repeating all dogma correctly
at will on exams) of so-called "laws" which are in fact mere
approximations to reality. Finally having lost sight of of the true
science philosophy, the students who eventually advance in position
and power, eventually comes to a point where they can enforce dogma by
political means. It's a standard thing and it is not good for the
advancement of science. It's good that Ben Stein has blown the whistle
on it.