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1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

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Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#51

Post by aortega »

jballanc wrote: post #40
aortega wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Theory: In science, a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses. ...that can be wrong and often are replaced by better theories as more tests and better explanations came out. Science is based in doubt. If you are too sure of a scientific theory, you are missing what science really is about and what you need is religion.

Falsifiability is a feature of every element of science. Something that is not falsifiable isn't science. Period. But a Theory is not a guess. It is a framework built from individual pieces, some of which may be hypotheses (effectively guesses) that have been tested and found to hold within the larger structure of that framework.

If you are based in individual pieces that may be effectively guesses, how you are not also a guess?

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#53

Post by chc »

waps wrote: post #37

In other news : 3 in 4 hacker news readers don't know the earth doesn't orbit the sun at all. That is an impression created by the fact that the space around the sun moves as a result of gravity. This results in that the location of the earth doesn't change, but as the sun is sucking in space and constantly pushing out it's matter the distance doesn't change. This results in the fact that a straight line path around…

What is the meaningful difference between orbiting and moving in a straight line that creates an ellipsoid in Euclidean space?

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#54

Post by baddox »

waps wrote: post #37

In other news : 3 in 4 hacker news readers don't know the earth doesn't orbit the sun at all. That is an impression created by the fact that the space around the sun moves as a result of gravity. This results in that the location of the earth doesn't change, but as the sun is sucking in space and constantly pushing out it's matter the distance doesn't change. This results in the fact that a straight line path around…

I don't think that's an appropriate analysis, because "orbit" has a specific definition in science that abstracts away the technicalities like Euclidean space vs. gravity as "bent space." The Earth absolutely does orbit the Sun.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#55

Post by wvenable »

waps wrote: post #37

In other news : 3 in 4 hacker news readers don't know the earth doesn't orbit the sun at all. That is an impression created by the fact that the space around the sun moves as a result of gravity. This results in that the location of the earth doesn't change, but as the sun is sucking in space and constantly pushing out it's matter the distance doesn't change. This results in the fact that a straight line path around…

> the earth is standing still, it's not moving... it is moving in a straight line

Wait, is the earth moving or not? I also can't figure out what definition of orbit you are using. Your comment feels far too clever for it's own good.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#56

Post by 300bps »

waps wrote: post #37

In other news : 3 in 4 hacker news readers don't know the earth doesn't orbit the sun at all. That is an impression created by the fact that the space around the sun moves as a result of gravity. This results in that the location of the earth doesn't change, but as the sun is sucking in space and constantly pushing out it's matter the distance doesn't change. This results in the fact that a straight line path around…

the earth is standing still, it's not moving...The earth is not circling the sun, it is moving in a straight line

You may have this somewhat right in your head but it comes out as contradictory nonsense in your comment.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#57

Post by baddox »

judk wrote: post #23

1 in 4 Americans don't know a piece of technical trivia that has zero relevance to their lives, and is equivalent to their model on all ways that matter to them.

I found it bizarre that the author suggested that the heliocentric model and the spheroidness of Earth are the two most basic scientific facts.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#58

Post by jusben1369 »

Everybody thinks the general population should be more knowledgeable about the particular topic they love. "Everyone should learn how to code!" "I can't believe people are so apathetic about how laws are made!" "Most people don't understand basic finance; how can they buy a home and save for retirement properly!"

Re: 1 in 4 Americans Don't Know Earth Orbits the Sun. Yes, Really.

#60

Post by ballard »

jsdalton wrote: post #28

While true, the actual data presents a different picture: http://i.imgur.com/FXMlOZB.png [source: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.... ] So actually, the U.S. had the second highest score on that question, behind South Korea. Furthermore, the U.S. consistently performed on par or higher vs. the other countries/regions for the remaining questions. The real outlier for the U.S. on this survey…

Yes and the guns, mass surveillance and racially unequal incarceration tantamount to genocide.
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