On 28/09/2016 08:53, Graham Easterling wrote:
On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 6:54:30 AM UTC+1, vidcapper
wrote:
On 27/09/2016 17:21, JohnD wrote:


David, I don't think that you need to be a scientist to
understand what lies behind this continuing challenge to
Alistair, because at heart it's about one basic principle:
Scientific theories and explanations can be complicated enough
even for professional scientists. So there's a basic tenet that
you always look for the simplest theory that might apply,
consistent with explaining all the known observations.


Unfortunately that leads to ideas like the Earth being at the
centre of the universe - but far worse is when such erroneous
notions are backed up by force by whoever is in charge at the
time.

--

Paul Hyett, Cheltenham

Well, quite the opposite. To agree actual observations with the Earth
being at the centre of the universe involved an indredibly complex
explanation.

Once it was accepted that the Earth was in orbit of the sun, and the
moon in orbit of the Earth - then it became simple.


Exactly - Occam's Razor.



--

Paul Hyett, Cheltenham