Turn it around ---- what if...

Post Reply New Topic

I won't do a poll on this, the one time I tried I struck out.

Anyway:

IF December 25th [or such other date as seems appropriate in your eyes] the heavens peeled away to reveal one or more apparently divine beings who proceeded to judge humanity and shut down the space-time continuum:

WOULD science

A shut down and seek to hide itself under the rock

B say Mass Hysteria and contnue with business as usual

C shout Glory NOW I understand what I was just groping at

D design a research project

Okay - I know that scientists are far from monolithic, and you could get all three and other responses.

My own suspicion is that those who are in it to advance themselves and / or serve the cause and not to KNOW would split between A and B, while those I would consider real scientists, driven to discover and comprehend, would likely go to either C or D.

This is a rather muddled question.

NO enterprise: science, religion, nor the upholstery business, could continue if "the time space continuium were shut down."

a scientist bases their "beliefs" on tangible evidence.

if evidence for a "diving being existed", a scientist would have no problem accepting it as fact.
but because there is no evidence beyond rhetoric/anecdote, a scientist would not accept it as fact.

why did you pick Dec 25 btw?

naturalplastic,

muddled if you will, but not muddled that way - the question puts shutting down space-time after judgement. Admittedly, I could have specified I expect the shutdown not to appear from inside to be simultaneous [what is the bit about black holes and time distortion?] - but I do not insist on that.

I am assuming in the question that the race has time to see and react.

StevieC, I just wish everyone I know of labelled a scientist were the type of scientist you describe. Sadly, not all are. In other areas we can distinguish POLITICIAN from STATESMAN, for example, but anybody with one of the right degress however he got it gets to call himself SCIENTIST.

As to why December 25, any date would do, but I think there are some who have thought Christmas was good for the Second Coming, so I threw that out just to make a little more concrete. If you prefer Bastille Day, or Einstein's brithday, or the beginning of Ramadhan, you are free to substitute.

@Inuyasha: cite your source.

something coming out the sky would be solid proof enough i would have thought. but until it does, its not proven.

@Philologos: good point, but if a person calling themselves a scientist disregards data for personal belief, then they are not a scientist.

and Christmas was originally a pagan festival, the christians just hijacked it.

Do you know all the UFO stories that were hoaxes, seriously Scientists would at first view it as a prank.

Inuyasha - very true. Nor would they necessarily believe their own eyes.

StevieC, I get a bit tired.

A. NO data on the date of Jesus' birth.

B. The Nativity was going to be celebrated in the church SOME day.

C. Are you aware some people / events got into the church calendar two or three places, though the church organization worked very hard to standardize the calendar? Think American and Canadian thanksgiving.

[Sand, if you read this, enjoy Finnish Independence day, celebrated hereabouts on the 4th this year. Happy St Nicholas day to, while I am at it]

D So they picked a day which was already in use as a holiday - and maybe they figured people in the community were already celebrating , why not use it? Maybe cynically, maybe not - I was not there.

E BUT the way the church celebrates Christmas is totally separate from the Saturnalia and Yule and the solstice. Practices with pagan or commercial ties that are seen in the SECULAR celebration of Krismus [distinct from Christ his Mass] have nothing to do with the church.

F. Anyway, come right down to it, the middle of winter close to the solstice is a REALLY good tme to have a break from misery, eats and lights and celebration of a new beginning.

G. Hey - did you know, the US cynically chose its Independence day to resonate with the Pagan Summer Solstice, contrast King George's birthday on June 4th, and remind us of Julius Caesar? The use of fireworks ties it to Guy Fawles and the Gunpowder Plot.

you've lost me, where's this going?


and fireworks were in use centuries before guy fawkes by the chinese, et al.

Scientists are (**supposed to be**) skeptics by nature so demand of evidence would be first then research if there were sufficient evidence to pursue further.

So what you're implying is because many scientists aren't Christian they would reject itself appearing before their eyes as mass delusion?

So if the Gods of Olympus revealed themselves for all to see would Christians dismiss it as mass delusion?

When something odd occurs it's best to examine it closely to discover what is going on. If something that called itself God appeared why should anybody believe it? It could be aliens playing tricks, it could be come mad scientist doing something goofy. How to tell?

a (good) scientist would base his evaluation on evidence (tests, research, analytical data) and evidence alone.
one scientist may be corrupt, but science as a whole rigorously tests evidence over and over so that it becomes more concrete and less infallible.

and by the way, gathering evidence does not start with the conclusion, then crunch data to fit the theory, i.e. a scientist would not say "i believe that there IS/IS NOT proof of aliens/god/conspiracy theory whatever" and then find data that proved or denied their own feelings, thats just bad science. instead they would look at the evidence as a whole, then base their conclusion on said evidence.

A Christian scientist [by which I do NOT refer to Christian Science with is altogether other] if a scientist by MY definitions, will yes gather data and check it out before drawing conclusions.

Think Doubting Thomas, my guy on the First Eleven.

From what I have heard - no expert, me - you may not be far from Mormonism.