Re: constructs, science and religion

Gary Blanchard ( garyb@pics.com )
Mon, 17 Jun 1996 13:03:17 -0700

Dear Bill-

Thanks for the reply.

Who connected tides and gravity?

I simply claimed that there is a phenomenon, here on earth, which we
popularly call gravity. The phenomenon's the thing. [Bringing in claims
about causality alters and complexifies the question beyond all
imagining, wouldn't you agree?]

And that claims about another phenomenon, popularly called God, are of a
different type, and not capable of validation / verification in the same
manner, indicating that the phenomenon are of a differing nature.

Would you agree with that way of putting the matter?

And with the conclusions?

I look forward to your response.

I'm heading up to Maine next weekend, and I certainly would like to have
this matter settled by then, so I can return and get to work on the
Unified....Unified...what was that again?

Best, Gary
> >
> >How nice to hear from you directly.
> >
> >Having grown up on the coast of Maine, and spent many a summer at the
> >Jersey shore, I certainly can appreciate the phenomenon of 'tides.'
> >
> >However, I'm not sure I got your point...would you elucidate?
> >
> >Thanks, Gary
> >
>
> Trying to put what Lois said a bit more simply & empirically. I grew up on
> the conventional explanation of tides as due to gravity. I also grew up on
> Einstein (in a lay kind of way, being a chemist) but never connected the two
> until a Scientific American article a few years ago pointed out the
> space-time model. Blew my mind, made me reconstrue the whole thing. Point
> is, to say "Gravity IS .. " thus, for me, gets a lot closer to religion than
> to science, which I thought was paradoxical, given the stance you seemed to
> be taking. The search by physicists for a Grand Unified Theory of
> Everything is, among other things, an attempt to reconcile the 'gravity' and
> 'space-time curvature' models. Curiously, it's gravity that screws most of
> the attempts up...
>
> Incidentally, I always liked Einstein's expression of it: 'Space tells
> matter how to move and matter tells space how to curve'. Cool!
>
> Maine is a beautiful place. I have happy memories of a camping holiday my
> wife and I spent there, around Marblehead and Bar Harbour, many years ago
> when we taught at McGill, in Montreal. It's high on our list of places to
> revisit the minute we retire. Too good to waste a short visit on.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Bill.
>
> Bill Ramsay,
> Dept. of Educational Studies,
> University of Strathclyde,
> Jordanhill Campus,
> GLASGOW,
> G13 1PP,
> Scotland.
>
> 'phone: +44 (0)141 950 3364
> 'fax: +44 (0)141 950 3367
> e-mail: w.ramsay@strath.ac.uk

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