Angels--What Are they?

[Lava]

QUOTE=Samildanach

> IF you speculate far enough in advance you may even be able to skip several steps and get a really advanced piece of the puzzle through intuitive means.

That doesnt work, one needs to use scientific method to get anywhere. However researchers that began with data they dont want to share, or initially used methods they dont wish to discuss are liable to describe their early thoughts as intuition.


> Look at Einstein, his most effective experiments were thought experiments and speculation about the nature of reality, seemed to work ok for him.

I doubt it somehow. Dont believe everything you read.


Lava

[Lava]

QUOTE=Technosoul

> You might be somewhat correct if you use only one particual section of the Bible to state what an angel is, however the Bible is not the only source of knowledge about angels. And the other sources are just as dependable.

I wouldnt use any part of the bible. The quotes I used came from others on this forum, who happened to be quoting the bible. Thus I was using them to find some common ground - not because I would base anything on the bible :)

Lava

[Lava]

QUOTE=Samildanach

> Point taken, the last time I did any thing of that kind was university physics which was all wave particle duality stuff so not really delving as such merely replicating others results, unfortunately I don't have a particle accelerator in my back yard that I can do my own experiments with.

You know you can build them at home, some types of them, if you want one. :)

Lava

[Samildanach]

You don't believe in Einsteins though experiments or intuition? Check out this page. Einstein solved the why of the relativity problem with a thought experiment.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thought-experiment/

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Samildanach If you don't speculate how on earth are you ever going to be able to advance? Speculation leads to theories, theories lead to advances. IF you speculate far enough in advance you may even be able to skip several steps and get a really advanced piece of the puzzle through intuitive means. Speculation is essential unless of course you want to plod along doing experiments for everything. Look at Einstein, his most effective experiments were thought experiments and speculation about the nature of reality, seemed to work ok for him.

There is a big difference between speculation and turning science into a religion. When you start saying definite statements such as “science will explain everything”, that is not speculation. That is a religious statement. There is no indication at this time that science will explain everything. You may state it as a hope, but science is very, very, very far from explaining everything. I also have no problem with speculation as long as it is not passed off as a candidate for a scientific explanation if it has little to no actual predictive power. I agree speculation is important. It is also important that when you speculate you understand that what you are proposing remains fantasy until it connects with reality. Einstein had a great imagination, but there are many people that have great imaginations and do not accomplish a tiny fraction of what he accomplished. What distinguished Einstein was not his imagination but his ability to make it conform to reality. He also read a great deal of experimental work and as a patent clerk did some engineering work of his own. He was dedicated to the possible. He actually made three great contributions to physics, two of which were not based on thought experiments but on actual experiments. For Einstein, It wasn’t enough to imagine it, what he imagined had to work. It had to actually explain things that could be directly observed. When people forget this is when they get into trouble and become the Don Quixotes of the science world. Such people end up catering to the uneducated science religion zealots that mistake their speculations for actual science.

Starboy

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Lava, QUOTE=Samildanach > Point taken, the last time I did any thing of that kind was university physics which was all wave particle duality stuff so not really delving as such merely replicating others results, unfortunately I don't have a particle accelerator in my back yard that I can do my own experiments with. You know you can build them at home, some types of them, if you want one. :) Lava

The biggest particle accelerator in the universe is just above your head. It is not that difficult to make a cloud chamber. I made one when I was in the ninth grade. Of course back then you could get radioactive materials throught the mail. Times have changed.

Starboy