Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

...as opposed to furthering an agenda.
sorry these are a bit random...please feel free to answer any or all. Brevity is appreciated.


Is there any evidence that physics has changed in the history of the universe? My understanding is that near the big bang the laws were different. I read somewhere it was proposed that the speed of light is slowing over time. Is this true? Does the 2nd law of thermodynamics imply that the laws of nature will eventually break down?

Is there direct sequential fossil links from lower primates to humans? If so, what % certainty?

What is the biggest flaw/criticism of Evolution?

Has there ever been a verified case of extra sensory perception, telepathy or any such thing?

What's the present day status of "unified theory" or the TOE?

Did Sklansky post on here that results of math type tests are the most indicative of intelligence? If so, how do women score on such tests compared to males? If they perform worse (I really don't know beyond my own stereotypes of men being better at math), does this mean men are inherently inferior intellectually? Iguess people won't answer this truthfully.

Aside from humans, what is believed to be the smartest creature to have ever lived?

Is there any indisputable evidence of aliens ever visiting, landing on Earth/abducting people?

Are radiometric dating techniques generally considered accurate?

What is the oldest known recorded time in human history?

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

To my knowledge (physics degree but out of the loop): No evidence the laws of physics have changed. No evidence the speed of light is slowing. 2nd law of thermodynamics is an observed statistical law and doesn't imply that laws of nature will break down.

Yes, there are direct sequential fossil links. See, for example:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comd....html#fig1.4.4
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/hominids.html

Going back to the time when evolution was first proposed, there is absolutely no reason we should have found these things if evolution was false.

The biggest flaw/criticism of Evolution would be the poor evidence of abiogenesis - the idea that the first cells arose out of simple chemicals. It's undetermined whether that actually happened, A number of paths in the process are certain to have happened, while others seem unlikely at this stage.

Men are better at math than women than women which is likely related to superior spatial analysis. This makes sense both from an evolutionary perspective and from what we know about the brain. However, women appear better at language. If men performed worse on math, it could well mean they are intellectually inferior to women in terms of spatial/logical analysis.

Smartest creature ever lived - hard to say. The elephant and dolphin are awfully intelligent, but I'd have to go with something like a chimpanzee or Orangutan. There is a case to be made for various pre human ancestors, or even neanderthals, but you could probably count them as human in some sense.

Aliens - no. There is little evidence of them ever visiting.

Radiometric dating - you'd have to read specifically about each method and timeframe. It's not exact, that's for sure, but doesn't have the flaws that religiously motivated people claim it does.

Oldest recorded time in human history - Not sure what you mean. Do you mean a written record? Cave paintings date back a long way before then and evidence of human used tools date back a lot longer.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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Is there any evidence that physics has changed in the history of the universe? My understanding is that near the big bang the laws were different. I read somewhere it was proposed that the speed of light is slowing over time. Is this true?

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There have been a number of cosmologies over the years that propose that vary fundamental constants; not just the speed of light but stuff like the gravitational constant. As far as I know none of these are currently in vogue. Certainly none have been tested experimentally.

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Does the 2nd law of thermodynamics imply that the laws of nature will eventually break down?

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No. This law is much misunderstood. All it says is that entropy of a system must increase, which is a pretty limited statement. Here's Wikipedia:

Furthermore, the concept of entropy in thermodynamics is not identical to the common notion of "disorder". For example, a thermodynamically closed system of certain solutions will eventually transform from a cloudy liquid to a clear solution containing large "orderly" crystals. Most people would characterize the former state as having "more disorder" than the latter state. However, in a purely thermodynamic sense, the entropy has increased in this system, not decreased. The units of measure of entropy in thermodynamics are "units of energy per unit of temperature". Whether a human perceives one state of a system as "more orderly" than another has no bearing on the calculation of this quantity. The common notion that entropy in thermodynamics is equivalent to a popular conception of "disorder" has caused many non-physicists to completely misinterpret what the second law of thermodynamics is really about.

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Is there direct sequential fossil links from lower primates to humans? If so, what % certainty?

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Yes; for the answer to this and any other question about the specifics of evolution, check out talkorigins.

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What is the biggest flaw/criticism of Evolution?

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There aren't any. It's true that we don't know how certain evolutionary leaps happened, but gaps in knowledge don't invalidate the general theory, which is very well attested. We also have basically no idea how life first appeared, but that's a seperate field called abiogenesis and has nothing to do with evolution.

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Has there ever been a verified case of extra sensory perception, telepathy or any such thing?

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No. If anyone could verify such a power, they could claim the JREF $1 million prize.

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What's the present day status of "unified theory" or the TOE?

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The best current contender is one of the myriad variants of string theory. The problem with string theory is that it is currently unfalsifiable, so at the moment it's nothing but mathematical masturbation. That will change in the future, though; New Scientist's cover article this month is about possible experiments to test string theory, if you're interested.

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Did Sklansky post on here that results of math type tests are the most indicative of intelligence? If so, how do women score on such tests compared to males? If they perform worse (I really don't know beyond my own stereotypes of men being better at math), does this mean men are inherently inferior intellectually? Iguess people won't answer this truthfully.

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I don't know what Sklansky posted, but the best way to measure intelligence is anything that measures the General Intelligence Factor, g. Most studies find no difference in g between men and women.

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Aside from humans, what is believed to be the smartest creature to have ever lived?

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The chimpanzee.

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Is there any indisputable evidence of aliens ever visiting, landing on Earth/abducting people?

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No.

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Are radiometric dating techniques generally considered accurate?

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Yes. (Again, I think talkorigins would have stuff on this)

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What is the oldest known recorded time in human history?

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Unclear question. Recorded as in there are written relics, or just oldest [censored] sapiens remains?

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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What is the oldest known recorded time in human history?

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If you mean written records that can be deciphered that is probably Sumerian cuneiform which is about 5,000 years old.

Cuneiform Script

Well recorded written Histories of human activities do not occur until sometime later.

-Zeno

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

Thanks for the answers all. It was more than I expected. Yes, Zeno, you guessed what my unclear was: that was what I was looking for. Interesting. I'm reading up on it.

I guess I don't understand the ever increasing entropy concept.It seems to me that something would eventually run out, as in ordered energy, then what? Doesn't that have some implications in some very distant time? I guess I read up more on it.


I take it that this talkorigins site is trustworthy since two good posters referenced it. I've looked at it a bit, maybe ask some more about it later. I'm busy reading Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking so it will be a while.

I'm thinking of taking physics in university. My uncle, who used to post here, has said he would pay for my undergraduate as long as it was science or math. If not I'll have to take out loans.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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Is there any evidence that physics has changed in the history of the universe?


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Physics models the way the universe changes, a model does not change that which it models.

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My understanding is that near the big bang the laws were different. I read somewhere it was proposed that the speed of light is slowing over time. Is this true?


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You probably did. But no way we can be completely sure what was going on back then.

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Does the 2nd law of thermodynamics imply that the laws of nature will eventually break down?


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I guess they might change, never thought much of the laws of thermodynamics?

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Is there direct sequential fossil links from lower primates to humans? If so, what % certainty?


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Don’t know, I would give approximately 100%.

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What is the biggest flaw/criticism of Evolution?


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Unclear what you mean, I guess you can dislike its results. Evolution is a natural process that must occur where it can.

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Has there ever been a verified case of extra sensory perception, telepathy or any such thing?


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No.

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What's the present day status of "unified theory" or the TOE?


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I don’t know, read the litriture.

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Did Sklansky post on here that results of math type tests are the most indicative of intelligence? If so, how do women score on such tests compared to males? If they perform worse (I really don't know beyond my own stereotypes of men being better at math), does this mean men are inherently inferior intellectually? Iguess people won't answer this truthfully.


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No idea.

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Aside from humans, what is believed to be the smartest creature to have ever lived?


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Where, on earth? Probably a member of the species humans evolved from, but just maybe a chimp or some dolphin. Depending on what smart means exactly.

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Is there any indisputable evidence of aliens ever visiting, landing on Earth/abducting people?


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No

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Are radiometric dating techniques generally considered accurate?


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Accurate within defined bounds, which might not be very accurate depending on perception of accuracy.

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What is the oldest known recorded time in human history?


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No idea.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

What career is best for my son?

Does anyone know where my daughter's swim goggles are? She says she doesn't remember, and I didn't see where she put them.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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I take it that this talkorigins site is trustworthy since two good posters referenced it. I've looked at it a bit, maybe ask some more about it later. I'm busy reading Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking so it will be a while.


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For another view by real Christian scientists go to reasons.org.

I'm very skeptical of evolution, especially human, and this site presents good scientific arguments against.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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What career is best for my son?

Does anyone know where my daughter's swim goggles are? She says she doesn't remember, and I didn't see where she put them.

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In the side-panel on the passenger's side door in the minivan. 98% certainty.

Oh, and he should be a botanist.

Re: Various actual questions re: science/religion...
 

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[ QUOTE ]
What career is best for my son?

Does anyone know where my daughter's swim goggles are? She says she doesn't remember, and I didn't see where she put them.

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In the side-panel on the passenger's side door in the minivan. 98% certainty.

Oh, and he should be a botanist.

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Do you have a source for any of this? I've worked through it and my results are that they are 63% in the laundry pile, 28% the passenger sidedoor, and 19% left behind at the swimming pool. Your son should be a radiologist or wrestler, fwiw.