Smoking is bad for you is a "fact"? I guess if you have a singular version of "bad" in mind when you say that, then it might be true. I have an occasional cigar, maybe one every 1-2 weeks, in a setting where a few others are imbibing in the same pleasure. Yes, I certainly recognize the health hazards associated with this activity. But when I weigh the taste, the mellowing feeling, and the comaraderie against the negatives, I find, in net, that smoking is a "good" activity is a "fact" for me.
I won't go so far as to say some deity created tobacco for my pleasure instead of the plant simply being the product of evolution, but it certainly is tempting to do so.
Bob at PC
________________________________________
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of John Denker [jsd@av8n.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 12:36 AM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Global Evolution as fact
Elvis is dead.
Smoking is bad for you.
The earth is not flat.
The moon is not made of green cheese.
Biology is understood in terms of evolution and not otherwise.
Evolution produces new species.
These facts are not seriously open to question.
I reckon all facts are open to question "in principle": ... but
not all to the same degree.
As the saying goes: You should keep in open mind, but not so
open that your brains fall out.
I don't know everything about astronomy, and I don't know
everything about dairy products, but I know the moon is not
made of green cheese.
I have made a career of overturning established facts. For sure
it can be done, but there are right ways and wrong ways of going
about it.
-- For one thing, nobody has enough time and resources to question
everything, so one must decide what is worth questioning. This
requires judgment.
-- If you want to overturn an established fact, you need evidence.
Indeed you need a lot of evidence. As James Randi is fond of
saying, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
If you have nothing more than a hunch, or a philosophical argument
that everything is open to question "in principle", keep it to yourself
until you have some actual evidence. Don't pester other people with
your speculations.
In particular, saying that some long-ago fact A was overturned does
not even remotely resemble evidence that fact B is seriously open
to question. Saying such a thing is illogical and is the opposite
of good judgment.
On 01/08/2011 08:09 PM, William Robertson wrote:
Many "facts" have been overturned in history,
That may be, However:
Elvis is still dead.
Smoking is still bad for you.
The earth is still not flat.
The moon is still not made of green cheese.
Biology is still understood in terms of evolution and not otherwise.
Evolution still produces new species.
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l