An Inconvenient History Of Science

Posted: 9/5/2017  Updated/Revised: 12/3/2019, 5/11/2019, 9/9/2017

Update Of 12/3/2019

Just watched this very recommendable documentary on chaos theory by Jim Al Khalili: The Secret Life Of Chaos: Chaos Theory (Jim Al-Khalili). Among many other things, Jim pointed out that after Newton many scientists and others were convinced that the world and the universe operated like a very predictable mechanical clockwerk, cause and effect etc. Thus, humans would be able to become masters of the universe. Then came quantum mechanics and later chaos theory.

Rest Of Blog Post Before 12/3/2019

The All Present Demagoguery And Propaganda Of Science

On a  daily and very pervasive basis, science is frequently abused for political ends. Citizens are taken for fools and made to believe propaganda instead of science.

They famously say about statistics: 

1. You can only trust your own statistics (perhaps attributed to Winston Churchill)
2. There are lies, damned lies, and then there is statistics (perhaps attributed to Benjamin Disraeli or Mark Twain)

Something similar about statistics can be said about science as well. With science you can prove almost anything you wish to prove especially if it is politically expedient and generates lavish government funding for scientists.

Frequently, the use of scientific arguments is not much more than a pretense of knowledge or scientism. In some instances it is not much more than superstition dressed up as science.

The Global Warming Hoax

This is probably the biggest and most consequential science demagoguery the world has ever seen and suffered. It is incredible superstition revived on steroids! Fatalism and apocalyptic thought combined! Supposedly, 97% of all scientists agree we the citizens are to believe. The sooner this hoax subsides and vanishes, the better for humanity!

For brevity sake, I will not go here into any of the many controversies of this Global Warming disinformation. Some of it is covered on my blog. Suffice it to say, humans are still not capable of forecasting accurately our local weather for more than 24 hours, but Global Warming zealots want us to believe their computer models can forecast or simulate global climate for a hundred years. Simply Preposterous!

Geocentric Versus Heliocentric Planetary System

Most people are familiar with this famous case of erroneous science and with the courageous scientists involved in correcting it, i.e. Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus. This case is probably taught in school in all Western countries.

However, what many people probably do not realize is that this was not just a singular aberration from an otherwise superbly working science. This story even reinforces the narrative that it was actually the dogmatic catholic church that opposed science and not leading scientists themselves for over several centuries.

In fact this is but one prominent case of hundreds of similar cases were prominent scientists of the day developed and fervently defended a wrong theory until they could not longer given the ever more growing, overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

History Is Littered With Defunct Scientific Theories

I will try to present here only a selection of once pursued, obsolete scientific theories. Wikipedia actually has an interesting compilation of such theories here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superseded_scientific_theories

Here is the Wikipedia definition of a superseded scientific theory, which I agree with (emphasis added): “A superseded, or obsolete, scientific theory is a scientific theory that was once widely accepted within the mainstream scientific community but is no longer considered to be an adequate or complete description of reality, or is considered to be simply false. This label does not cover proto scientific or fringe science theories with limited support in the scientific community.”

List of selected, superseded scientific theories (in no particular order, but these theories were very prominent in its time and tainted science for a long time):

1. Phlogiston (“a superseded scientific theory that postulated that a fire-like element called phlogiston ... is contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion”)
2. Spontaneous Generation (“The theory of spontaneous generation held that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular”)
3. Miasma theory of diseases (“an obsolete medical theory that held diseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or the Black Death—were caused by a miasma (... "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air", also known as night air”)
4. Vitalism (“the belief that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things"”)
5. Caloric Theory (“an obsolete scientific theory that heat consists of a self-repellent fluid called caloric that flows from hotter bodies to colder bodies”)
6. Dalton’s Atomic Theory (atoms were considered as indivisible and indestructible)
7. Luminiferous Ether (“Luminiferous aether or ether ... was the postulated medium for the propagation of light.”)
8. Geocentric planetary system
9. Steady State of Universe theory (“In cosmology, the steady state model is an alternative to the Big Bang theory of the evolution of the universe. In the steady state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter”)
10. Flat earth theory (“a modern misconception that Earth was believed to be flat rather than spherical by scholars and the educated during the Middle Ages in Europe”)
11. Preformationism (“a formerly-popular theory that organisms develop from miniature versions of themselves”, e.g. there is a little man (homunculus) sitting inside a sperm)

Do not fool yourself believing that some of these superseded theories are very old, predating modern science and therefore it could not happen anymore. This is plain wrong! E.g. the Luminiferous Ether theory was developed in the 18th and 19th century before it was refuted in the late 19th century; the Phlogiston theory remained prominent until 1780; the Miasma theory has ancient roots, but it was not abandoned until 1880s; similar the Spontaneous Generation theory, ancient origins, but was not put to rest until about 1859.

This inconvenient history of science should be taught much more widely! Scientists are only too human! Neither the pope nor scientists are infallible!

Beware Of Fallacy

Don’t fool yourself believing that today’s humans or scientists are so much smarter than their predecessors. We are not much more intelligent, but we have more knowledge! 

Few scientists truly stand on the shoulders of giants. Most scientists are anything but giants. To err is human (Seneca: “Errare humanum est”)! No exception for scientists!

Finally Outright Criminal Scientists

There have been examples in history, where scientists or medical doctors aided and abetted crimes:

1. Eugenics
2. Forced, dubious medical experiments e.g. during World War II by German and Japanese scientists and doctors

A Great Tax Reform: Voluntary Taxation By Lottery

Posted: 9/2/2017

Trigger

Recently, I came across this incredible article:

Early American Government Ran on Lotteries, Not Taxes

I was truly stunned by the content of this article. Anyone who follows my blog knows that I am strongly in favor of citizens and businesses to be able to choose voluntary taxation to fund most government expenditures (see my previous blog about voluntary taxation here).

Historical Examples

Based on the above article, who knew that (emphasis added):

1. “In the 17th and 18th centuries, lotteries were a thriving business, both public and private, and without them, early America couldn’t have been built.”
2. “... the first lottery used to raise government revenue and offer a cash prize was held in Florence, Italy, in 1530.”
3. “By the 1700s, lotteries were a popular way to raise money for all sorts of projects and were seen less as a sinful pastime than a civic duty.”
4. “In the early 18th century, The Independent reports, the Archbishop of Canterbury lent his good name to lotteries funding the British Museum and Westminster Bridge.”
5. “In 1776, the Constitutional Congress held one to benefit the soldiers of the Revolution.”
6. “Once the colonies won the war, the new states leaned heavily on lotteries to raise revenue, in part because they were not eager to tax newly independent citizens who’d just rebelled against taxation by a central authority. Lotteries funded the growth of the country’s earliest colleges, including the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), Dickinson College, Harvard, and Yale, of many, many churches, and of iconic buildings, including Boston’s Faneuil Hall, which needed to be rebuilt after it burned down in 1761.”
7. “But in the 19th century, the popularity of lotteries waned as they were haunted by corruption. It was easy enough to announce a lottery, sell tickets, and abscond with the money without offering a prize. In New York and Massachusetts, lotteries were banned in the 1830s, and later in the century most states followed suit.”
   [This seems to be more a problem of law enforcement and not of lotteries per se. I think, this was a cheap excuse or pretense to get rid of voluntary financing of government.]

To Those In Opposition Of Voluntary Taxation

I don’t think there are any compelling or convincing reasons not to return to lottery as a way to voluntarily finance most of government expenditures.

To those who claim only compulsory taxation of citizens and businesses is realistic or only compulsory taxation generates enough revenue (unfortunately, there are way too many making these claims) are detractors of individual freedom and are enemies of human progress.

How Russia Subverts The West

Posted: 8/28/2017

From The CIA To The KGB

Always keep in mind Vladimir Putin is a former KGB officer and former director of the successor organisation of the KGB, i.e. the FSB.

A systematic imbalance: Thanks to freedom of speech and democracy, we have learnt much more about the activities and operations of Western foreign intelligence services like the CIA or the British MI6 (now SIS), then we have learnt about the foreign intelligence services of closed dictatorships like former USSR or today’s Russia, China, or Iran.

Or has the West learnt more about its own foreign intelligence services because of deliberate operations of the intelligence services of those dictatorships to undermine the West?

Anyway, whatever covert operations or activities the CIA or other Western intelligence services were able to undertake, we can safely assume that the KGB or other intelligence services run by dictatorships are very comparable if not worse, because they do not have to fear much scrutiny by political parties or opponents.

The Extent Of Subversion In The West

Perpetrated By Dictatorial Foreign Intelligence Services

Is Probably Largely Underestimated

There are a number of reasons for this systematic underestimation:

1. Open societies allow foreign intelligence services to operate much easier and in many different ways
2. For instance, financial support by foreign intelligence services to groups or individuals to to foment public discord is often very difficult to uncover
3. Foreign intelligence services are much more ruthless when it comes to cover up (including murder, harm to family members) etc.
4. Defectors of these foreign intelligence services are fairly rare, or are eliminated, or they need so much protection that the public in the West will not learn about their disclosures for long times (decades)
5. The hands of Western counterintelligence services are for good reasons severely tied behind their backs when it comes to investigate, prevent, or uncover operations or activities by foreign intelligence services directed at political activists or activist groups. Not to mention that Western counterintelligence services are already quite busy to prevent espionage and potential sabotage operations

Two Recent Articles About Russia’s Involvement With U.S. Environmentalist Groups

For sake of brevity, I will not discuss these two articles here.

Lawmakers Cite Evidence Russia ‘Colludes’ With US Green Groups to Block Fracking

CIA Veteran Sees Russian Connection to 2 Groups Opposing Fracking, Pipelines

Best German Election Poster

Posted: 8/17/2017

Background: In less than 40 days, the next German general election is being held, i.e. on Sunday 9/24/2017.

Found this great German election poster on Facebook today. Crafted by a genius. Summarizes very well why it is long overdue for Merkel to retire from politics!

For non German readers: Merkel is expressing Schadenfreude about that she can do whatever she wants and the stupid Germans will reelect her again and again.

Democrats Are The Culprits Of Charlottesville

Posted: 8/16/2017  Updated: 8/17/2017

Introduction

Disclaimer: I did not follow the events of Charlottesville, Va in great detail.

In Charlottesville, VA individual fanatics gathered as a mob to engage in violence and militancy. I do not care about their ideological background or self righteousness. Militant or violent mobs are antithetical to any civil society.

Again Awful Propaganda By Mainstream Media

The mainstream media worldwide did their best again to fool the public! The pro Confederate statues protesters were simply stigmatized as Nazis or white supremacists, while the anti/counter protesters were euphemistically and glorifingly referred to as anti Fascists and anti racists!

The True Culprits Were Democrats

What seems to be apparent so is the complete failure of the political leadership of Virginia and Charlottesville to keep the militant protesters effectively apart or to effectively intervene when violence erupted.

We know that the protesters had a valid permit for their demonstration. However, who was responsible for issuing a permit to the anti protesters? Was there actually a permit for the anti protesters issued despite the high probability of erupting militancy and violence and the great danger to public safety?

The real culprits of the events in Charlottesville were two Democrats, i.e. the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe and the mayor of Charlottesville.

Terry McAuliffe Is An Unindicted Criminal

Terry McAuliffe happened to be actively involved in trying to manipulate the outcome of the presidential election last November when he obviously abused his clemency powers. He attempted to pardon over 200,000 felons so they could exercise their voting rights. This was an unprecedented act by a governor of Virginia. The Supreme Court of Virginia stopped him, but in disregard of this court order McAuliffe tried a 2nd time!

The Mayor Of Charlottesville Is A Political Hack

Finally, I got around to look up who actually is the democratic mayor of Charlottesville, VA.

Wow, was I surprised! Much worse  than imagined. The mayor is Michael Signer, he has worked for the infamous Center for American Progress and with John Podesta on Barack Obama's State Department Transition Team. Do I need to say more!

Is President Trump Inciting A Coup Inside North Korea?

Posted: 8/12/2017

This could very well be the aim of President Trump’s harsh, unprecedented rhetoric of recent days against one of the last stalinist dictatorships on this planet, i.e. North Korea.

China may finally realize that it was shirking responsibility for North Korea way too long if it wants to become a serious global player. Thus, China may finally exert some pressure on the dictatorship in North Korea. China is key! Will Putin the Terrible still support North Korea?

The U.N. has just imposed new, broader sanctions on North Korea. Other, new sanctions may follow.

Hopefully, some of the leading factions and the powerful in North Korea will contend with the possibility that their comfortable and luxurious life at the expense of the exploited and starved population is threatened by this third generation dictator’s brinkmanship. A coup in the making ...

Do The Germans Have The Courage On Election Day 2017?

Posted: 8/12/2017

German general elections are taking place on Sunday, September 24.

Will the Germans have the courage to throw the bums out on that day? Merkel must go!

The American, British, and the French people have shown extraordinary determination to affect long needed changes in major Western democracies. Will the often phlegmatic, lethargic Germans have learnt the lesson that it is now their turn!

Unfortunately, Germans have few alternatives to choose from on the voting ballot. At best, they could vote for the FDP (Free Democratic Party, a pretentious little, liberty minded party) party or the AfD (Alternative for Germany, a demonized party with some good proposals) and their candidates. If both parties achieve a combined 25% to 35%, the establishment parties in Germany would be in serious trouble.

The major opposition party, the SPD (Social democratic party of Germany), who have formed a so called great coalition with the ruling CDU (Christian democratic party or Merkel’s party), were so foolish to nominate a diehard Marxist (Martin Schulz) as their top candidate.

I have written about the election program of the AfD party here.

Feminism Debunked

Posted: 8/1/2017 Updated: 10/28/2017, 8/28/2017

Update Of 10/28/2017

Early Recorded Female Lust For Power

Watched a documentary video on YouTube last night showing among other things that a secondary wife of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III instigated a harem conspiracy in 1055 BC to overthrow the pharaoh to put her son on the throne instead of the legitimate successor. Very clever plot by this lady!

Before Taj Mahal

Excerpt (emphasis added): “Jahangir [4th Mughal Emperor, translated as conqueror of the world] was the eldest surviving son of Mughal Emperor Akbar [3rd Mughal Emperor]. Impatient for power, he revolted in 1599 … Jahangir was defeated, but ultimately succeeded his father as Emperor in 1605 because of the immense support and efforts of his step mothers, Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, Salima Sultan Begum and his grandmother, Hamida Banu Begum. These women wielded considerable influence over Akbar and favoured Jahangir as his successor.” (Source)

Jahangir was one of the famous Emperors of the Mughal Empire, but due to his excesses in alcohol and opium consumption it is said that his wife, Nur Jahan actually ruled the empire from behind a veil.

Excerpt (emphasis added):

“A strong, charismatic and well-educated woman who dominated a relatively weak-minded husband, Nur Jahan was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Mughal Empire was at the peak of its power and glory. More decisive and pro-active than her husband, she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne for more than fifteen years. Nur Jahan was granted certain honours and privileges which were never enjoyed by any Mughal empress before or afterwards.”

Note: Famous Taj Mahal was built by the 5th Mughal Emperor.

Update Of 8/28/2017

Actually, history is also full of powerful women who left impressive marks on human development and progress. I would not even know where to begin to list their names: Katherine the Great, Queen Marie Therese, Queen Boudica, Hildegard of Bingen, Helen of Troy, Queen Victoria, Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, Queen Sheba, Empress Wu Zetian, and so many more

I could easily add plenty of names of famous female scientists with the help of Internet research, but would not be necessary. However, I have just learnt about this Danish scientist: Inge Lehmann (seismologist).

Trigger

Today, I saw physics.org posting on Facebook featuring a short biography of Maria Mitchell, the first female, American, professional astronomer.

Just a few days ago, I learnt that Kevlar was invented by a female chemist (i.e. Stephanie Kwolek).

Some Commonly Accepted Tenets Of Feminism

These selected tenets are:

1. Predominant patriarchy, the belief that men have dominated women over most of history
2. Frequent and pervasive sex based job discrimination against women
3. That women were seen by men as incompetent in matters of science and mathematics or that women should not occupy themselves with such matters

Debunking The Myth

The more I read and learn about women who contributed over history to science and mathematics it becomes clear that many of those talented women who chose science or math as a career or contributed to science and mathematics were able to succeed and/or were given opportunities to do so. Moreover, often men helped these women to achieve their goals. And history is full of such talented women who have devoted their efforts to advance science or mathematics very much appreciated by men.

The issue is not what these above tenets suggest, but that many women just did not show any interest in science or mathematics not unlike their male contemporaries.