The History of Science, Part 1

[Latrinsorm]

I talk a lot about empiricism, and I thought it would be nice to give some love to the people who invented it.

Muslims.

An object in motion will stay in motion. - Avicenna aka Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sīnā (b. 980)
Force is proportional to acceleration. - Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī aka Baruch ben Malka (b. 1080)
For every action there is an opposite reaction. - Avempace aka Abû Bakr Muḥammad Ibn Yaḥyà ibn aṣ-Ṣâ’igh at-Tûjîbî Ibn Bâjja al-Tujibi (b. 1095)

The three laws of Isaac Newton (b. 1642)
An object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will stay at rest.
Force equals mass times acceleration.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

A quote of Newton's whose meaning is sometimes disputed:
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

.

Everyone knows the Greeks (http://www.amazon.com/The-Lagoon-Aristotle-Invented-Science/dp/0670026743) invented (http://www.ask.com/history/invented-science-83770ca78cb04cbf) science (http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/09/29/aristotle-science-philosophy-greece), but actually no! Their astronomy was copied from the Sumerians, as it would in turn be copied by the Romans. Aristotle himself advocated a brand of science totally foreign to what we call science today: rational science. (Ironically, this form of science was significantly more empirical than that which preceded it!) The reasoning he offered was impeccable, thus the West accepted it for two thousand years. How could you disagree? Well... because it turned out to be completely wrong. The Islamic world had no geopolitical need to champion the Greeks, and so they were free to embrace the science that actually worked: empirical science. It is on their backs that the Renaissance was built, but for obvious reasons Europeans were compelled to credit this to ancient Rome as opposed to contemporary Islam, and that transparently fraudulent history continues to this day.

These things happen.

[Tgo01]

Greeks invented science? I thought Africans were charting our galaxy and inventing diet coke while those Greek homos were still living in caves?

[Gelston]

Shut up Latrin.

[Ker_Thwap]

Who invented straw men?

[Silvean]

There is some truth in the original post but it's a lot more complicated that you are making it out to be. The last full sentence is particularly problematic since it smacks of conspiracy theory.

I can't imagine the point of starting the thread. You're looking to incite the handful of people who post 100 things on here a day to fire up an uninformed and overly generalized argument about cultural superiority? Why?

When I first found this message board after starting up with Gemstone again, I was convinced it was beset with bots because of how bizarre some of the posts are. I still read stuff on here at least once a week that completely baffles me. I hold my phone out a little and say out loud, "What the fuck" or "What the fuck is wrong with these people."

[Latrinsorm]

There is some truth in the original post but it's a lot more complicated that you are making it out to be. The last full sentence is particularly problematic since it smacks of conspiracy theory.

I can't imagine the point of starting the thread. You're looking to incite the handful of people who post 100 things on here a day to fire up an uninformed and overly generalized argument about cultural superiority? Why?

When I first found this message board after starting up with Gemstone again, I was convinced it was beset with bots because of how bizarre some of the posts are. I still read stuff on here at least once a week that completely baffles me. I hold my phone out a little and say out loud, "What the fuck" or "What the fuck is wrong with these people."To be clear, here is the point of this thread:
"I talk a lot about empiricism, and I thought it would be nice to give some love to the people who invented it."

I never look to incite. It is a matter of public record that I am often puzzled by peoples' responses and beliefs, I really have no framework to predict what will and won't garner responses. For example, the most negative and vitriolic rep I ever received was for a thread inquiring as to the benefits of alternate milks. I post things because I want to. If you want to respond, I encourage you to do the same. There's no puzzle here, no diabolical scheme.

[Silvean]

Please restart the thread about alternate milks. I've been building a scaffold with the intention of suckling a giraffe and want to know if it's worth the trouble.

[Latrinsorm]

I regret to inform that no giraffes were harmed in the making of that thread. :( You are welcome to revisit (http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?81492-Milk-Does-it-Do-a-Body-Good) it, though.

[Taernath]

Personally, I blame Homo erectus. Ever since the first hominid picked up a rock and thought 'I bet this would fuck up someone's day pretty good' it's been nothing but a downward spiral.