What is the Scientific Establishment?



The scientific establishment made up of mainstream scientific institutions and those that run them.The individuals that run these institutions control many aspects of main stream science. This control gives them the ability to limit research and distribution of material they don’t like. The scientific establishment includes those who control publishing, employment, research grants, research facilities and education.

This is not some deep dark conspiratorial but just people protecting their power and world view but the result is the same. This actually happens to some degree in all fields of human endeavor such as science, religion, politics, business, and education. Those on the inside try to keep out those on the out side that disagree with those on the inside. It is a natural result of human nature.

Objectivity in Science

There is a common myth that scientists is that they are totally objective but it is not true. First of all scientists human and are subject to human flaws that prevent total objectivity. In addition ones philosophical assumptions will always influence ones conclusions no mater how objective you try to be.  Furthermore just knowing something about the topic will inevitably causes a person to form opinions about that topic such that you can only be totally objective if you are totally ignorant. 

Take a look at the following video and notice how the blue ball moves.

Most likely you concluded that the gravitational attraction of the larger ball or some other physical force was pulling on the blue ball making its path bend. If you did you have just let your own preconceptions about the real world cloud you thinking about an animation video. The real answer is that I drew the frames of the video to make it do that.

Here is Clear Scientific Proof that the Supernatural Exists

It has been repeatedly claimed that there is no scientifically valid evidence for the supernatural; however this claim has been in the absence of a scientific definition of supernatural. It a previous article (A Scientific Definition of Supernatural ) I made the case that a supernatural event would then be any event that has a caused out side the Universe.

Based on this definition there is a scientifically recognized even that without question has to be a supernatural event. The prime evidence for this event it the fact you exist to read this article. The supernatural event I am referring to is the beginning of Universe. The fact that the universe had a beginning is a well established scientific fact.

Now regardless of how the Universe actually began it had to be started from outside itself. This is evident from the fact that until the universe existed there was no inside the universe and so the cause that started the universe had to be out side of it.

The fore the beginning of the Universe by definition has to be a supernatural event.

Here Is a Declaration of a Scientific Definition of the Supernatural

Is science capable of considering and studying the supernatural? Answering this question requires there to be a scientific definition of supernatural. Unfortunately no official scientific definition of supernatural has ever been established. The reason this is the fact that there is the desire on the part of the scientific establishment to keep any consideration of the supernatural out of science. 

To find a scientific definition of supernatural it is necessary to start with a standard dictionary definition of supernatural.  According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language the primary definition of supernatural is “Of or relating to existence outside the natural world.”

Since the natural world consists of ther entire universe, it is logical to rephrase this definition as “Of or relating to existence outside the Universe.” This makes for a perfect scientific definition of supernatural.

So here is a perfect scientific definition of supernatural.

Supernatural: Of or relating to existence outside the Universe.
Supernatural event: Aany event that has a caused out side the Universe.

Now while this definition allows for an influence by a supernatural intelligence such as God, it does not intrinsically require that there be any intelligents involved an would include totally mechanistic causes from out side the universe.

Reference Science and the Supernatural

Observation: The Viewing and Recording of. Data

Observation is the process of viewing and recording events. Viewing and recording are basically watching a phenomenon and recording the observation.

There are limits to the accuracy of observations because real world observations some times miss stuff. A critical event may occur when observations are not being made. A critical event may occur outside the range of the observer’s sight. As a result observations can be some what subjective since it is too easy for an observer to see what he wants to see because the observer is looking for what he wants to see So patterns resembling what the observer wants to see are more likely noticed. It is also  too easy for an observer to not see what he does not want to see because the observer is not looking for what he does not want to see and patterns not resembling what the observer is not looking for can be over looked. Knowing of such problems helps avoid them.

 As important scientific as Observations  are in science but it does have its limitations and pitfalls. Being aware of those limitations helps one to avoid them.

Experimentation a Process of Science

Experimentation is the investigation of the causal relationships among variables or the testing of a hypothesis.

Albert Michelson and Edward Morley performed the Michelson-Morley Experiment in 1887 by splitting a beam of light in two sending in two directions to measure by interference the difference in the transition of the two beams. It is considered the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether helping lead to the development of Special Relativity.

Controlled Experimentation is fundamental to the ideal of science. It is where the scientific method and repeatability works best. However not all area of scientific study lend them selves to experiments. Most real world observations are beyond the possibility of a controlled experiment do to things like distance, size and time. In many case experiments can only be used to test the possibility of a hypothesis which is some times done in historical sciences. Trying to replicate a past event to show it could have happened.

The Ideal Experiment should reduce the number of variable to one and be easily repeated by other scientists to increases the likely hood that someone will try to repeat it. It also makes it more likely that the attempt to repeat it will succeed. It should also limit complexity and cost so as to increase the likely hood that someone will try to repeat it making it more likely that the attempt to repeat it will succeed.

The Importance of Repeatability in Science

Repeatability is the replication of a scientist’s experiments and results by other scientists. The can be done because the physical laws are the same every place so an experiment conducted by one scientist should work for any other scientist so as to double check the results. Repeatability is not to be confused with replicating passed events which is done to show the possibility or feasibility of that event which is a totally different from the repeatability being discussed.

Repeatability works best with experiments with well controlled variables so that replication can be as completely as possible. It does not work well in situations where there are difficulties in controlling variables. In such cases results are not easily replicated. The degree of repeatability varies from field to field.

So while repeatability is important to science it is not the absolute principle some make it out to be and some fields are more repeatable than others.

A Discussion of Peer Review in Science

Peer Review is the submission of scholarly works and research to the review of other’s in the same field. Peer Review practically speaking refers to review for publication in a journal proving a way to find and correct mistakes before publication of a paper includes spelling, grammar, mathematical and other form of mistakes. It a method of quality control to the research being published helping guard against poor research.

Unfortunately this provides a means of blocking the publication of novel concepts that run contrary to the current paradigm. If dissenters respond be publishing their own peer review journals they are criticized and their journals are often decried as non reputable. Some times it is denied that they are even legitimate peer review. This has been shown too happened in origins research with Creation Science peer review journals and climate research with climate peer review journals that publish papers that go against Global Warming.  So called reputable journals seemed to be defined based on agreement with establishment paradigms. Attacking sincere peer review efforts in this way harms scientific Research.

It There really Scientific Objectivity

Human beings can not be totally objective since we all have preconceptions about the world. You can only be really objective if you know nothing about a topic since knowledge on a topic creates opinions that influence preconceptions. This is also why every effort is made for juries to know little or nothing about the case in advance. You can only be totally objective if you are totally ignorant.

Dealing with data involves three steps collection, organizing and interpreting Collecting data includes measuring and recording and it is the most objective part of science. Since much of this is done by machines it is where true scientific objectivity is found. Even this process is not totally objective since the selection of data to be tested is not always objective and is often based on the theory being used says to look for. This part of the process is still the most objective. Organizing Data includes the categorizing of data sets. As soon as an organizing system exists it influences how the data is seen and this causes a loss of objectivity. The interpretation of data depends on the theoretical system being used to do the interpretation because different theoretical system produces different interpretations. Scientists using different theoretical systems on the same data can produce different and even contradicting interpretations and a flawed theoretical system causes flawed interpretation,

What is The Scientific Establishment

The scientific establishment is all of the mainstream scientific institutions and  those that run these institutions. These positions give them control over many aspects of main stream science making it possible for them to limit research and distribution of material they don’t like. These positions include those with control over publishing, employment, research grants, research facilities and education.

This control can and does hamper innovation by keeping concepts down that are outside the ruling paradigm.

This not only includes Creation Science and Intelligent Design but alternative totally naturalistic concepts as well. There are areas where progress occurs only because older influential scientists die and are replaced by younger more receptive scientists. It has been said that scientific progress occurs one funeral at a time.

This is not necessarily conspiratorial but is most likely just people protecting their power and world view. However the result is the same. This actually happens in all fields of human endeavor such as science, religion, politics, business, and education. It is a result of human nature.

Creationism

Creationism: The philosophical position that the earth and universe and life were created by God or some other supreme being.

Despite claims by anti creationist Creationism and Creation Science are not equivalent. Creationism is a philosophical position while Creation Science is a scientific discipline based on Creationism.

Natural process are recognized under Creationism because the Universe generally works by natural process; however supernatural events and process are seen as possibilities. It is actually a more open minded position than naturalism which denies the existence of the supernatural.

There are several views that extend from creationism Young Earth Creation, Old Earth Creation, Intelligent design if God is the intelligents Theistic Evolution and any other view of origins that involves God Theistic Evolutionists may deny that there view comes from creationism but as soon as you insert God into the equation you’re outside naturalism. None of these views are Creationism because Creationism is a philosophical starting point. These views are theoretical positions that come logically from Creationism.

The Problem of Government Grants

A government grant is money or other items of value given by a government to non-government individual or group to enable their activities.

While Government funding of science produces many good results it has the down side of politicizing science and the politicization of science is detrimental to science. The benefit is that it provides a source of funding for research making it easier for research to be funded. It obviously allows some research to be done that probably could not get funded other wise.

However science has become too dependent on government grants such that 90% of scientific research is funded by government. To get funding from any source requires you to appease that source of funding. So to get government funding you need to appease government officials. While grant requests do go through peer review, altimetry the money comes from politicians and this has a chilling affect on science because some areas of research are funded while others are not. Furthermore about 1 in 10 unsolicited grant applications are approved which means that some legitimate research is rejected. Also some paradigms are favored by government over competing ones.  For example research in to manned caused global warming gets funded while opposing research does not get funded.

The reason for this it that politics is about acquiring and holding on to power not knowledge and as a result politicians are often not really interested is the science but sending money to their districts and pushing a political agenda.

In conclusion science needs to reduce its dependence on Government funding. Priority needs to be given to private funding which can take several forms, foundations, universities, and other nonprofit organizations and for profit organizations while these are already used to some degree, private funding should be encouraged more. It is less corrupting because there is more than one source of funding. This does not mean that Government funding should be eliminated just reduced. Science should be as independent of government as possible to reduce these problems. 

References

Science corrupted

The Trouble With Government Grants

Units of Measure in Physics

Unites of measure are numerical values given physical quantities relative to some standard. The International System of Units (SI) is the system of units of measure used as a global standard by international treaty.

Seven SI Base Units
meter	distance
kilogram	mass
second	time
ampere	current
kelvin	temperature
mole	amount of substance
candela	intensity of light

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There is a list of
SI unit prefixes that that multiply the values from 10²⁴ and
10^-24 below is a partial list.

SI Prefixes
Prefix	Symbol	10n	Scale	decimal
giga-	G	109	billion	1,000,000,000
mega-	M	106	million	1,000,000
Kilo-	k	103	thousand	1,000
Hecto-	h	102	hundred	100
deca-	da	101	ten	10
-	-	100	one	1
deci-	d	10-1	tenth	0.1
centi-	c	10-2	hundredth	0.01
milli-	m	10-3	thousandth	0.001
micro-	m	10-6	millionth	0.000,001
nano-	n	10-9	billionth	0.000,000,001

As a result 1,000 meters is a kilometer, a hundredth of a meter is
centimeter and a thousandth of a meter is a millimeter.

The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

0^th Law of Thermodynamics: Two objects in thermal equilibrium with a third object re also in equilibrium with each other.

The 0^th Law is called the 0^th Law and not the 4^th because it is more fundamental than the 1^st law but was discovered after the other three. 

The idea is like having three interconnected beakers of water such that the water levels in all three are the same height. Furthermore because the beakers are interconnected any change in one gets balanced out so all three end up with the same level.

The zeroth law of Thermodynamics is a simple concept and which why it is the most fundamental of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method is a general description of the process of scientific observation, it is a general description and not an absolute rule.                            

• Observation is the viewing and recording. and measurements of facts and data. Experimentation is one way of engaging in observation. Observation is simply the collection of data
• A hypothesis is a tentative explanation of an observed phenomenon used to make testable predictions.
• Predictions are produced by the application of the hypothesis other inputs to predict the results of future observations. These predictions must be unique because the same prediction from two more hypothesizes can’t distinguish between the alternatives.

 The testing a hypothesis involves making observations based on the hypothesis so as to see if its predictions agree with the observations.

Example

1. The observation is made of a known particle of known mass and negative charge following a parabolic path.
2. The hypothesis is made that a small massive positively charged particle exists at the center of attraction. This is similar to the way the atomic nucleolus was discovered.
3. The prediction is made of the path of a similar positively charged particle, that it is of the same mass and but opposite charge of first particle. It should follow a hyperbolic path showing that it was deflected.
4. If prediction occurs, then the prediction succeeds and the hypothesis supported.
5. If the new particle follows the same path as the first then the prediction fails and the hypothesis falsified so a new hypothesis needed.
6. The new hypothesis is made of a small neutral extremely high mass particle; possibly a mini black hole; with enough gravity to bend particle paths.
7. The new prediction for is that neutral particle of the same mass as the first two should follow the same path as the other two particles. If prediction occurs then the prediction succeeds and the new hypothesis supported

Scientific Method is just a general description that works best under controlled condions in experiments. It can test for particular predictions by controlling variables. However, it does not always work well for real world observations. Since variables often not controllable it often can not test for particular predictions.

It does not always work well for historical sciences were variables are usually not controllable. It such cases particular predictions often can not be test. Furthermore destruction of evidence can come from both natural and manmade sources. Unfortunately manmade destruction of evidence can occur by scientists themselves, such destruction can be both accidental as well as deliberate.

The fact is that the Scientific Method is not always used exactly as described and it’s use varies depending on the situation.

Is Creation Science, Science?

The critics of Creation Science claim that it is not falsifiable or subject to change. However this is not true because Creation Science theories are falsifiable and subject to change.

Both Creationists and Evolutionists use observation and measurements to develop, and test hypotheses and theories that make falsifiable predictions. They both revise and abandon theories based on new data and they both use internal peer review. Both sides also have some holdouts for generally abandoned theories. These similarities show that Creation Science is at least as scientific as Evolution.

Some Creationist theories have been falsified and most Creation Scientists consider these theories to have been falsified. As is often the case there are still some supporters but most Creation Scientists do not support them any more.

The Canopy theory was developed in early days of Creation Science. It was years before it validity could be checked. Today most Creation Scientists agree it is unworkable because it was found to trap way to much heat. Further more a thin enough canopy to not cause over heating would not provide the expected radiation shielding. 

C-decay was the first attempt at a scientific solution to the distant starlight problem. It made predictions about red shift verse distance that have been proven false and the evidence that had been put forth in favor of  c-day has been  proven faulty  To day despite a few hold outs most Creation Scientists consider it to have been falsified.

Some creationist theories have been modified to deal with problems that were founf wit the original concept.

Dr. Humphreys’ White Hole Cosmology was modified by Humphreys to deal with some initial problems involving a problem with seeing near by Galaxies. Humphreys discovered that time would have been stopped within the even horizon. The basic concept has also been expanded on by Dr. Hartnett by applying Cosmological Relativity to a bounded universe.

Some Creationist Science Theories have made successful predictions. These include accelerated nuclear decay, which successfully predicted zircon helium diffusion rates. Another example is Humphreys’ model of planetary magnetic fields which not only predicted the magnetic field strength of Neptune, but also predicted the observed decrease in Mercury’s magnetic field.

The critics of Creation Science also claim that it is not science calling it Creationism. However Creationism is the philosophical bases for Creation Science and not Creation Science itself. Even many creationists don’t understand this. The problem is that calling Creation Science, Creationism is the same ascalling Evolution Science, Naturalism.

Definitions.:

•         Naturalism: the philosophical position that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws.

•         Creationism: the philosophical position that the earth and universe and life were  created by God or some other supreme being.

•         General Evolution: The view of origins that the universe, all that is in it including life came about by natural processes.

•         Biblical Creation: The view of origins that the earth and universe and life were  created by God as describe in the Bible.

•         Evolution Science: The Scientific theories that result when starting with an Evolutionary view of origins.

•         Creation Science: The Scientific theories that result when starting with a Biblical view of origins.

The issue is one of philosophical foundations

Naturalism is the philosophical foundation General Evolution while Creationism is the philosophical foundation Biblical Creation. Both of these philosophical foundations are philosophy; not science they are not subject to change,

General Evolution is the theoretical system of Evolution Science while Biblical Creation is the theoretical system of Creation Science. Both of these are structure and not Science not subject to change

Both system produce scientific theories that can be categorized as Evolution Science and Creation Science. This is where the real science is because these scientific theories are both subject to change.

Anti-creationist claims that biblical creation prevents scientific investigation. The claim goes that since the Bible gives the story of how it all began, so there is no need for investigation. It is further claimed that creationists know the out come in advance. These claims are wrong.  

The Truth is that Biblical Creation has inspired a lot of scientific investigation and theories. Examples Include Dr. Humphreys theory of planetary magnetic fields, Catastrophic Plate Tectonics, Accelerated nuclear Decay, and The RATE project which was a massive Creation Science research project studying radio isotopes.

The Biblical account does not give all the details of Creation and the Flood leaving a lot is left for us to discover by researching and studying nature. Creationists do not know the out come of research in advance.  While the Bible does provide an historic framework It does not give all the details. Evolutionists also have an historic frame work and they work from those results from Naturalism. That historic frame work is Big Bang to man Evolution

A comparison of Creationist and Evolutionists

1. Both have distinct historical frame works.
2. Both build theories around their respective historical frame work.
3. Both have expectations about results.
4. Both interpret what they find by way their respective historical frame work.
5. Both are equally scientific.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states the following:

• It is impossible to turn all of the heat put into a system into work so that you can’t make a 100% efficient engine.
• The amount of unusable energy in a closed system increases.
• The entropy in a closed system always increases.

The basic concept behind the 2^nd law of Thermodynamics is the fact that heat always spontaneously flows from hot objects to colder objects. It never spontaneously flows from cold objects to hot objects.

When heat transfer is being used to do work some of the heat always goes to the colder location. This wasted heat is called entropy. Simply put you can never turn all of the heat into work.

Now heat can be forced to go from a cold object to a hot object by applying work, which also reduces entropy, thus showing that work can reduce entropy. This process is the bases of air conditioners, refrigerators, and heat pumps.

Entropy is the measure of a system's thermal energy unavailable for conversion into mechanical work. It is also a measure of the equivalent states or multiplicity of a system and there by a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system.

In Classical Thermodynamics entropy is mathematically defined as dS = dQ/T.

These results in the change in entropy as: DS = Q/T.

• S = entropy
• Q = Heat energy
• T = Temperature

In statically thermodynamics entropy is mathematically defined as S = k ln W.

This results in the change in entropy as: DS = k ln W₂ / W_1.

•  S = entropy
•  k = Boltzmann constant
•  W = the multiplicity of a system.

Entropy and Disorder

Entropy is related to disorder through multiplicity of a system denoted by W. The multiplicity of disordered states (W_d) is far more than the multiplicity of ordered states (W_o) such that W_d >> W_o  this means they S_d >> S_o.

Since 2nd Law of Thermodynamics indicates that entropy tends to increase it also indicates that a system’s degree of disorder tends to increases. The only way to increase a system’s order and there by decrease its entropy; is to do work on the system.

Abiogenesis and 2nd Law

Abiogenesis is life spontaneously being formed from non life by naturalistic means. However living things are the most ordered and complex systems known to exist, and the simplest known living cell is infinitely more organized and complex than the most organized non-living chemical systems produced in a lab

This means that the entropy of a living cell is many orders of magnitude lower than the entropy of the same amount non-living chemicals. This means that abiogenesis goes against the 2nd law’s tendency towards increasing entropy.

While entropy can be decreased by applying work to a system no evidence exists for a naturalistic mechanism for such a large decrease in entropy. Without this mechanism the 2nd law suggests that abiogenesis is impossible.

Applied Energy and 2nd Law

While the 2nd Law shows that energy applied a system can reduce its entropy, it does not show how the manner in which energy is applied to a system affects entropy.  It does not show the deference between construction work and a bomb.

Construction work reduces a system’s entropy while bombs increase a system’s entropy.  Unfortunately the 2nd Law does not show the difference.  So an additional principle is needed to show this difference and it is also need to really determine if abiogenesis is possible or not.

1st Law of Thermodynamics

The 1st Law of thermodynamics can be stated as follows

1. The Law of Conservation of Energy.
2. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed but it can change forms..
3. Total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant.

From a creation perspective this makes sense since the Bible says the God completed his creation on day six. It is however a problem from an evolutionary perspective, since it needs all of the energy in the universe to naturally come from some place.

One proposed evolutionist solution to their problem of the source for the universe is to invoke negative energy with the idea that the total amount of positive and negative energy adds up to zero energy. The problem with this notion is that what is theoretically called negative energy is not truly negative but a dipping of vacuum energy (zero point energy) below the zero point energy "empty" space. Therefore the level is always positive.

The final nail the coffin of the notion that the total amount of energy in the universe is zero is that negative energy must be followed by a larger amount of positive energy so the positive energy must always be larger than negative energy. As a result the total energy of the universe must be > 0.

Reference: Negative Energy, Wormholes and Warp Drive

The significance of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics is that the total amount of energy in the Universe is constant. It is also impossible to get more energy out of a system than is put into it. You can not get energy from nothing it has to come from some place. Most often it is stored in the form of some type of fuel but regardless energy has to come from some source. 

The 1st Law of Thermodynamics tells us a lot about what systems are possible and what systems are impossible. Any system that puts out more energy than is put into it from all sources is impossible. To be possible a system must it needs to get energy from some place, even if it is not an obvious place. This does not mean that you can’t get more energy out of a system tan you put into it but it has to come from someplace.

Free Energy is often associated with pseudo-science and conspiracy theories but it is a legitimate scientific term. In classical thermodynamics free energy is the energy in a system available to do work. However “free energy” refers to a group of devices alleged to put out more energy than the user supplies to them. Though I have never seen a convincing demonstration of a free energy device the question here is does free energy violate the 1st Law of thermodynamics? 

The answerer is no as long as the free energy device gets energy from some place. Now there are recognized devices that technically qualify as free energy they include solar cells which get their energy from sun light and wind mills that get their energy from wind. However most alleged free energy devices seek to tape the Universe’s zero point energy. Now it is highly debatable as to whether or not this zero point energy can be taped but in principle it does not violate the 1st law thermodynamics.   

In conclusion the 1st Law of thermodynamics simply says that the amount energy in a closed system remains constant.  This is regardless of how it is changed or is moved around. To add energy to a system it needs to come from some place else.