🚀 go-pugleaf

On Oct 29, 4:55 am, Pentcho Valev <pva...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The MAGICIAN'S HAT model of science described below is perhaps too
> metaphorical so less metaphorical examples could be instructive.
>
> Example 1. The Magician, Divine Albert, puts in the hat his famous
> false light postulate:
>
> http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/"...light is
> always propagated in empty space with a definite velocity c which is
> independent of the state of motion of the emitting body."
>
> Immediately an absurdity jumps out of the hat:
>
> http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/
> ON THE ELECTRODYNAMICS OF MOVING BODIES By A. Einstein June 30, 1905:
> "...light is always propagated in empty space with a definite velocity
> c which is independent of the state of motion of the emitting
> body.....From this there ensues the following peculiar consequence. If
> at the points A and B of K there are stationary clocks which, viewed
> in the stationary system, are synchronous; and if the clock at A is
> moved with the velocity v along the line AB to B, then on its arrival
> at B the two clocks no longer synchronize, but the clock moved from A
> to B lags behind the other which has remained at B by tv^2/2c^2 (up to
> magnitudes of fourth and higher order), t being the time occupied in
> the journey from A to B. It is at once apparent that this result still
> holds good if the clock moves from A to B in any polygonal line, and
> also when the points A and B coincide. If we assume that the result
> proved for a polygonal line is also valid for a continuously curved
> line, we arrive at this result: If one of two synchronous clocks at A
> is moved in a closed curve with constant velocity until it returns to
> A, the journey lasting t seconds, then by the clock which has remained
> at rest the travelled clock on its arrival at A will be tv^2/2c^2
> second slow."
>
> However Divine Albert's worshippers do not see the absurdity (the
> wolf); rather, they see a paradox (a rabbit). Then the "paradox"
> becomes Divine Truth as worshippers discover that cosmic muons whose
> speed is almost 300000km/s disintegrate very quickly as they bump into
> a barrier and their speed instantly becomes zero. Worshippers call
> muons undergoing such a terrible crash "muons at rest". On realizing
> that non-crashing muons live longer than "muons at rest", worshippers
> fiercely sing "Yes we all believe in relativity, relativity,
> relativity" and go into convulsions.
>
> Example 2. The Magician, Divine Albert, puts in the hat his famous
> false light postulate. A few years later a falsehood jumps out of the
> hat: the speed of light is constant in a gravitational field (it can
> be shown, by applying the equivalence principle, that if the speed of
> light is constant in the absence of a gravitational field, then it is
> constant in the presence of a gravitational field as well). Needless
> to say, worshippers do not see the falsehood (the wolf); rather, they
> see Divine Truth (a rabbit), fiercely sing "Yes we all believe in
> relativity, relativity, relativity" and go into convulsions.
>
> In a state of temporary confusion, in 1911 Divine Albert unexpectedly
> takes a true rabbit out of the hat: In a gravitational field the speed
> of light is VARIABLE; it varies with the gravitational potential V in
> accordance with the equation c'=c(1+V/c^2) given by Newton's emission
> theory of light. Worshippers fiercely sing "Yes we all believe in
> relativity, relativity, relativity" and go into convulsions.
>
> Inspired by worshippers' songs, in 1915 Divine Albert takes another
> falsehood out of the hat: the speed of light varies with the
> gravitational potential V in accordance with the equation c'=c(1+2V/
> c^2). Worshippers fiercely sing "Yes we all believe in relativity,
> relativity, relativity" and go into convulsions.
>
> Pentcho Valev wrote:
>
> Lakatos' PROTECTIVE BELT philosophy is a special case of the
> MAGICIAN'S HAT philosophy:
>
> The MAGICIAN'S HAT philosophy: Science is taken to constitute the
> interior of a magician's hat where you put ties which are then turned
> to rabbits. The magician is free to secretly rearrange the interior of
> the hat so that always rabbits and never wolves jump out of it. The
> public declares itself ready to boycott the seances if wolves and not
> rabbits jump out of the hat but in fact loves the magician so much
> (there are hymns "Divine Magician" and "Yes we all believe in the hat,
> hat, hat") that seances would take place even if Tyrannosaurus rex
> jumped out of the hat.
>
> Other contributions to the MAGICIAN'S HAT philosophy:
>
> Karl Popper: "On the other hand, I also realized that we must not
> exclude immunizations, not even all which introduce ad hoc auxiliary
> hypothesis....All this shows not only that some degree of dogmatism is
> fruitful, even in science, but also that logically speaking
> falsifiability or testability cannot be regarded as a very sharp
> criterion."
>
> Thomas Kuhn: "Something even more fundamental than standards and
> values is, however, also at stake. I have so far argued only that
> paradigms are constitutive of science. Now I wish to display a sense
> in which they are constitutive of nature as well."
>
> Paul Feyerabend: "Today science prevails not because of its
> comparative merits but because the show has been rigged in its
> favour."
>
> Pentcho Valev
> pva...@yahoo.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBUl7oT9sA