good science?

[EdRegis at aol.com]

tdiener at asrr.arsusda.gov writes (Wed, May 3, 1995):

>You believe that the "heliocentric hypothesis" has 
>been proven when, in fact, it has been disproven 
>(or, in Popper's terminology, falsified). Remember 
>that the Copernican worldview states that the sun is 
>in the center of the universe 

Obviously, "heliocentric," as I used it meant that the sun is the center of
the solar system, not of the universe.  (Meaning that your comments are not
even plausible as a straw man or cheap shot.)  

>I don't have to remind you what Einstein has done to >Newtonian physics!  

Well, who cares what he's done, if what he's done is not the truth?  I mean,
if we really don't have certainty, maybe the Newtonian view is correct after
all!  

>DNA does not contain the genetic 
>material; it *is* one of two presently 
>known genetic materials, the other 
>being RNA.  

"Known"?  Are you *kidding*?  To "know" something means that what you know is
true, not merely that you believe it or that some evidence exists for it, or
that it's probable.  How can a guy like you, who says that everything is
uncertain and corrigible, sit there and tell me that this stuff is "known"?
 On the contrary, it's only what you molecular biologists believe for five
minutes until the next view comes along. Hah!

>Certainty (aside from 
>death and taxes) can only be found in theology,

Neither death nor taxes are certain in the least.  There was a time, before
governments, when taxes did not exist, there are some societies right now
where taxes do not exist, and taxes could also be abolished in the future
even in this society.

As for death, see my book Great Mambo Chicken (Addison-Wesley, 1990), esp.
chs. 3 (Heads Will Roll), and 5 (Postbiological Man).  What a conservative
you are!  Tsk!

Nothing can be found in theology.

Cheers,
Ed
edregis at aol.com