Helpfully labeled “satire” on Juan Cole’s Informed Consent:
David Gregory’s Meet the Press today hosted a debate between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on whether gravity is just a theory.
“Sure,” Gohmert said, “things fall down all the time. But that doesn’t mean gravity is a law. Look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s still there after hundreds of years. Things don’t always fall down.”
Nye pointed out that Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity in the 17th century and it is settled science.
Gohmert challenged Nye’s certainty. “The cultists who tout science always speak as though we know for sure that scientific discoveries are true. Gravity has only been theorized for a couple hundred years. It’s too early to tell. How much money do they want us to waste on suspension bridges and other expensive technology aimed at keeping things from falling down, on the basis of a theory?”
Nye tore off his bow-tie and began chewing on it in frustration.
“Wasn’t it an apple that hit Newton on the head?” Gohmert asked. “Well, I’ve read the Bible and I know that an apple was used to tempt Eve. Maybe the Serpent was just tempting Newton with a secular humanist theory.”
Nye said, “What?”
Besides,” Gohmert went on, “we all saw that movie ‘Gravity.’ Obviously there’s no gravity in outer space. So if the theory doesn’t work everywhere, there must be something wrong with it.”
“The law of gravity says,” Nye replied, “that ‘any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.’ Gravity works in deep outer space, it is just that bodies there are distant from the earth. And in ‘Gravity’ they were just falling around the earth, in the grip of its gravity.”
Moderator David Gregory smirked. “That’s a lot of verbiage there, Bill. If you can’t explain something clearly, maybe it’s because there’s something wrong with the theory.”
Gohmert angrily interrupted Gregory. “Besides, we all know that Muslims believe in gravity. That should make you suspicious of it, right there.”
Nye turned to Gregory. “How can you call yourself a journalist? This is a carnival with a bearded lady exhibit!”
Gregory shrugged. “Next you’ll be saying Glenn Greenwald is a journalist. I am not an activist. I don’t know whether gravity is universal. I let both sides tell their story.”
“That’s not a ‘side’! He’s just mouthing nonsense! It doesn’t even make any sense.”
Gohmert pounded the table. “This whole gravity thing is just a way for scientists to get taxpayers’ hard-won money away from them. NASA wouldn’t get all that funding for rocket fuel if people realized that ‘gravity’ is just a theory.”
Gregory turned to the camera and smiled. “There you have it, folks. Next week on ‘Meet the Press:’ A quarter of Americans think the sun goes around the earth. Could they be right? To explain, we’ll be joined by a homeless man who says he is possessed by the spirit of the ancient astronomer Ptolemy.”
Stay tuned. We haven’t heard the last of this long overdue debate.
And on the first day God created gravity.
Origin of the Species of Intelligent Gravity? “Intelligent Grappling” (2002): “I don’t like the theory of gravity, I feel personally insulted that engineers design structures only considering physical mass. What about our souls. I propose that science classes also teach the theory of “Intelligent Grappling”. There’s no way a weak force such as gravity can possibly hold everything onto the planet. It must be God, using our souls, to hold everything together.” from last paragraph of Jeff Stubbs comment on groups. google https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/talk.origins/NNW8exUOu7Y
“Apple dropped from Burj Dubai to validate Newton’s laws disappears” (2010) http://www.fakingnews.firstpost.com/2010/01/apple-dropped-from-burj-dubai-to-validate-newton-laws-disappears/
Teach the controversy so that students can make an informed opinion! (2005) http://www.theonion.com/articles/evangelical-scientists-refute-gravity-with-new-int,1778/
“It’s only a theory …”: On the Shoulders of Giant Mistakes (2005) http://jgrr.blogspot.com.au/2005/05/inspiration.html
“Gravity is just a theory” I Drew This (2005) http://www.glasswings.com/comics/idrewthis/d/20050516.html
Excellent links—-you have provided my laugh of the week with the Onion piece, which I had missed back then, and have given me places to go for more of the same. I always “gravitate” towards the Onion first—it’s an “anti-faith based reasoning and love of irony and satire” thing with me. I will be chuckling all day over the thought of Faith-Based REASONING and a CENTER for the study of such.
It’s Satire but honestly, if the media started ‘teaching the controversy’ on gravity I don’t think it would take long before a quarter, or more, of the American people came to doubt it. After all, Gravity is a Force, and Forces can’t be measured directly. Since ‘in HIM lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, hidden from view’, its false idol worship to deduce any others.
If it was presented as “98% of all scientists believe in gravity”, it wouldn’t be long before we would have a significant %-age of “gravity deniers” among us. Say “All the scientists who believe in AGW believe in gravity” and the %-age would double.
Rayduray–
That is part of the problem. ‘Gravity’ is a settled fact, and Newton’s theory is perfectly reliable for many applications. But Newton doesn’t have ‘the truth’ (and neither does Einstein, given the tensions with quantum mechanics). So people obsessed with ‘truth’ in some final, perfect form (think fundamentalists) really do feel justified in dismissing established, settled, reliable science. Worse, it’s also a great distraction for the rest of the population (What do you mean, Newton’s theory isn’t true? What the hell is NASA doing, relying on a false theory for their launches? There should be an investigation!). As we hear so often, all models are false, but some are useful. Somehow we need people to understand that ‘but’ and appreciate its practical importance.
Off topic Bur FYI:
NAS and The Royal Society to Release Joint Publication on Climate Change Science
On Thursday, February 27th from 10:00-11:30 EST, you’re invited to join the US National Academy of Sciences and the UK’s Royal Society for the release of Climate Change: Evidence & Causes . Written by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists and reviewed by climate scientists and others, the publication is intended as a brief, readable reference document that addresses some of the questions that continue to be asked. Miles O’Brien of the PBS Newshour will moderate a discussion between some of the authors and the audience.
Participants can join in person at the NAS building on Constitution Avenue & 21st Street, NW, or by webcast. Coffee service begins at 9:00 a.m.
Register today to attend in person or view the webcast.
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