trc@houti.UUCP (T.CRAVER) (07/15/83)
Response to cca!charlie: First, the reference frame business only applies to non-accelerating frames of reference (I think - I am certainly not an expert on this!) I the Earth were sitting still, the rest of the universe would have to be moving with speeds vastly greater than the speed of light. Second, even religious people cant claim to know, in the sense you want - ie an absolute sense, because their claim to knowledge is based upon faith in unprovable supernatural entities. They may *feel* sure, but that is a whole lot different from *being* sure. In fact, since no human is omniscient, such "absolute truth" is impossible, and so, as far as humans are concerned, is a "straw man" concept. Its only purpose is to discredit those that are sure, within the context of the sum of their knowledge. That is, those that know certain facts that they know of no contradictions to, and plenty of evidence for, and so they can be *contextually* certain of those facts. If contradictions do appear, in further observation, the "facts" are no longer able to be considered certain. This is one difference between a scientist and a mystic - the scientist will not continue to cling to a concept when presented with clear contradictions to that concept. The mystic will, and will even continue to believe that the concept is "absolute truth", and will think up complex rationalizations to cover up the contradictions. Tom Craver houti!trc
Anonymous@inmet.UUCP (07/20/83)
#R:houti:-34900:inmet:6400031:000:54 inmet!Anonymous Jul 18 06:46:00 1983 It's actually quite simple: there are no *absolutes*.
dee@cca.UUCP (07/21/83)
How can one claim there are absolutely no "absolutes"?????????????????