Drifloon Rocks
Honey, please don't eat the rancid dung.
The topic title seems a bit abstract, but there's a point here. Basically, can we know anything about the physical world we live in?
I'll present my point by using the example of our solar system. Hundreds of years ago, scientists and researchers were confident that the universe revolved around the Earth. They had all the proof they could imagine, the biggest proof being the obvious fact that everything else went over the sky again and again. It was proven that the universe revolved around the Earth. But they only saw things from the perspective of Earth.
Then, something happened. Someone had figured out that the Earth actually revolved around the sun and also rotated on an axis. This is why everything appeared to soar over our sky. At first, these ideas were ignored, but once we developed more advanced technology, we "discovered" that the Earth does in fact revolve around the sun, and the moon revolves around the earth. It was also "discovered" that there were other "solar systems" like our with planets orbiting stars and since the earth rotated, they seemed to pass over us.
Nowadays, it's "common knowledge" that the Earth revolves around the sun and that the Earth rotates on an axis. It's been proven using the latest technology. But it was also "proven" that the universe revolved around the Earth with was used to be the latest technology. They had "proof" then, and we have "proof" now.
So how do we know that in a few hundred years, someone will "discover" that we actually don't revolve around the sun? Is that even possible? We've proven over and over that Earth revolves around the sun. But a long time ago, people had "proven" over and over that the universe revolved around the sun. Everyone believed it. It was known. And yet, it was later "disproven" bu newer technology.
So, can we really know anything about our world? Is a quark really the smallest thing there is? Does the earth really revolve around the sun? How can we be sure that it won't later be "disproven"?
Discuss.
I'll present my point by using the example of our solar system. Hundreds of years ago, scientists and researchers were confident that the universe revolved around the Earth. They had all the proof they could imagine, the biggest proof being the obvious fact that everything else went over the sky again and again. It was proven that the universe revolved around the Earth. But they only saw things from the perspective of Earth.
Then, something happened. Someone had figured out that the Earth actually revolved around the sun and also rotated on an axis. This is why everything appeared to soar over our sky. At first, these ideas were ignored, but once we developed more advanced technology, we "discovered" that the Earth does in fact revolve around the sun, and the moon revolves around the earth. It was also "discovered" that there were other "solar systems" like our with planets orbiting stars and since the earth rotated, they seemed to pass over us.
Nowadays, it's "common knowledge" that the Earth revolves around the sun and that the Earth rotates on an axis. It's been proven using the latest technology. But it was also "proven" that the universe revolved around the Earth with was used to be the latest technology. They had "proof" then, and we have "proof" now.
So how do we know that in a few hundred years, someone will "discover" that we actually don't revolve around the sun? Is that even possible? We've proven over and over that Earth revolves around the sun. But a long time ago, people had "proven" over and over that the universe revolved around the sun. Everyone believed it. It was known. And yet, it was later "disproven" bu newer technology.
So, can we really know anything about our world? Is a quark really the smallest thing there is? Does the earth really revolve around the sun? How can we be sure that it won't later be "disproven"?
Discuss.