How do we manage to get observation and interpretation mixed up?
The Rain Forests of Venus
Carl Sagan once told the story of early astronomers who looked up into the sky with their primitive telescopes and observed the planet Venus. It puzzled them greatly because Venus had no observable surface. Not at all like the Moon or Mars, it appeared just like a featureless, flat disc in the night sky.
"What on Earth could possibly explain that?" they asked. "Well, suppose it was covered in clouds." "Yes, that would explain it, since clouds obscure everything beneath them." So they continued, "What surface conditions are needed to make clouds?" "Well, heat, which we know Venus has because it's close to the sun, and water." That made sense, so they continued, "What kind of surface do you get when you have heat, light and water?" "Well, tropical rain forests, for one thing." That made perfect sense, so they concluded that the surface of Venus was covered with tropical rain forests
2007-11-15 21:54:42 · 7 answers · asked by I love you too! 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
As it turns out, the temperature on the surface of Venus is 900 degrees Fahrenheit and the clouds are made of sulfuric acid.
Which brought Carl Sagan to his point. "Observation: featureless disc. Conclusion: tropical rain forests."
How far wrong we can go -- in just a few short steps! The conclusion of those astronomers may seem silly to us, now that we know more about the conditions on Venus. But the process they followed in making their mistake was one which most of us easily follow.
It seems to me that many people today, still have similar thought processes. They observe, conclude and then done.
What are your thoughts about that?
2007-11-15 21:56:59 · update #1
Great point made!!
With our limited capabilities, we have no right to conclude finally on anything ever!! In any case the future being so uncertain, any conclusion today may not hold true tomorrow. Keeping the mind always open is the real wisdom and 'mantra' for learning.
2007-11-15 22:20:51 · answer #1 · answered by small 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
This is one of the many reasons I love science & philosophy. The search is infinite, & conclusions always tenuous. That's not to say that some don't claim to "know it all," but there were always those who thought they did, weren't there?
I've seen much controversy on Y/A regarding global warming; some who denounce it have "concluded" that it's a conspiracy by those in the oil industry--a contradiction in itself. We've seen climate change accelerating at a very rapid rate & we explore the things that are causing it. Some of us ask why the research & reports of renowned scientists have been censored. We look for ways to slow a destructive process, & are in a bottleneck of opposing views. Observe, conclude, done? No way. This issue strays a bit from Venus, but not from "How do we manage to get observation & interpretation mixed up"?
There are observable FACTS, & underlying mysteries. There are always many, many interpretations.
Edit: Thank you, small!
2007-11-16 23:45:15 · answer #2 · answered by Psychic Cat 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It does depend on the personal importance of the situation. There are a great many things that we will make snap-judgements on without applying a great deal of thought to simply because they aren't terribly important things in the grand scheme of things....
Generally these judgements tend to be partially accurate if not fully accurate... giving a rough estimate, which is usually all we need to make use of. As we learn more, the guesses can be altered and tweaked up to better represent what we have learnt.
But basically... how much thought I apply to any given thing is usually proportional to its importance to me.
2007-11-16 06:18:21 · answer #3 · answered by Lucid Interrogator 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We tend to predict things in the light of what we already know. Hence, the unpredictable nature often catches us on the back foot.
Venus if just one of the examples where we applied our limited 'earth' knowledge without realizing the limits of such observations and corresponding conclusions.
However, this does make such studies completely irrelevant. Mistakes are a part and parcel of new discoveries. We just need to learn from them.
2007-11-16 06:01:55 · answer #4 · answered by Parth 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
when all of our earth had turn into a desert place , cause by the heat , then , can we human still survive on it's. Then , may the robots to takes our place on this earth , them may still survive to the the end of this earth.
2007-11-16 07:25:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Global warming is a perfect example of that.
A cyclic event occluded to be caused by human endeavor.
2007-11-16 06:24:20 · answer #6 · answered by producer_vortex 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Earth is the place made for us living humans
2007-11-16 05:58:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋