RE: [asa] George & heliocentricity

Hi George-

Thanks for clarifying and for your pithy answer. So your answer is 'yes' it can be disproven.

You then say:
"But the real question today - when it makes
little sense to speak of any "center" of the universe - is whether or not
one can legitimately say that the earth is at rest. I.e., is a fixed-earth
reference frame as good in principle as a fixed-sun one? & the answer to
that is an unambiguous "Yes.""

That is interesting. However, in reality, we also know that both the Earth and Sun are not at rest. So if someone hypothesized that either is at rest, we could disprove that scientifically also, correct?

And I do understand/agree with what you mean by relativity, reference frames, etc.

...Bernie

-----Original Message-----
From: George Murphy [mailto:GMURPHY10@neo.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 4:23 PM
To: ASA list; Dehler, Bernie
Subject: Re: [asa] George & heliocentricity

Yes, I did answer it as clearly as possible in posts of 26 & 29 June. Just
as a matter of geometry the sun is, roughly, at the "center" of the solar
system & the earth isn't. But the real question today - when it makes
little sense to speak of any "center" of the universe - is whether or not
one can legitimately say that the earth is at rest. I.e., is a fixed-earth
reference frame as good in principle as a fixed-sun one? & the answer to
that is an unambiguous "Yes."

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dehler, Bernie" <bernie.dehler@intel.com>
To: "ASA" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 5:50 PM
Subject: [asa] George & heliocentricity

> Hi George-
>
> I'm not sure if you even clearly answered this question... and I'm really
> curious. A pithy answer would be great.
>
> Question:
> Suppose someone has this hypothesis:
>
> The Earth is the center of the universe.
>
> Do you think this can be scientifically disproven?
>
> I would appreciate it if your answer began with a 'yes' or 'no.'
>
> I think heliocentricity is a great analogy for many things, so I want to
> make sure I understand you completely.
>
> ,,,Bernie
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
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Received on Fri Jul 10 19:41:05 2009