The Differences between Science and Pseudo-Science
Some of the characteristics of the scientific method:
•It is testable and falsifiable.
•The simplest theory or theories consistent with observations should
be used (Occam’s Razor).
•When better observations or experiments no longer support a
particular theory, that theory should be discarded or modified to
incorporate the new observations or experiments.
•When experiments are possible, they should be repeatable.
•Technically speaking, in the most general sense there is no such
thing as absolute truth in science; however, in practice there are
many situations where objective truth can be obtained beyond all
reasonable doubt.
•The final arbiter of truth in science is the evidence, not what anybody
has written or believes, even if he is a famous scientist.
•There is no dogma in science, other than the dogmatic statement that
there is no dogma! However, individual scientists can be dogmatic, and
are subject to beliefs and emotions as all humans are.
•Science only investigates the natural universe, no assumptions are made
about a deity or deities, or the supernatural.
•Science does not deal with meaning or purpose, that is left to theology
and philosophy.
Here are some random examples of science:
Astronomy
Geology
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Archeology
Paleontology
Glaciology
Some of the characteristics of Pseudo-Science:
•What is stated as being true is based on a belief that is often not testable
or falsifiable, or if it is, has been falsified. However, such claims are
often couched in scientific sounding language.
•Claims are often made that are so vague as to be essentially meaningless
or are bound to be true sometimes, as is the case with astrology.
•Truth is based on arguments of authority of a famous person, e.g. a
religious figure like Jesus, Mohammed or Buddha, or on sacred texts
such as the Bible, Koran or Bhagavad-Gita. Such arguments are
theological not scientific.
•In some pseudo-sciences, especially creationism, an omnipotent deity is
used as an explanation. However, as an omnipotent deity can do
anything, by definition, nothing is explained.
Here are some random examples of pseudo-science:
Astrology
Ufology (Von Däniken)
Velikovskian (Velikovsky)
Lysenkoism (Lysenko, Stalin)
Arian Science (Hitler)
Creationism – Protestant American version (Morris, Ham)
Creationism – Islamic Turkish Version (Harun Yahya)
Homeopathy
But the main reason for insisting on the universal Flood as a fact of
history and as the primary vehicle for geological interpretation is that
God's Word plainly teaches it! No geologic difficulties, real or imagined,
can be allowed to take precedence over the clear statements and
necessary inferences of Scripture.
Henry Morris - Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science (1970) p.32-33
The only way we can determine the true age of the earth is for God to tell
us what it is. And since He has told us, very plainly, in the Holy
Scriptures that it is several thousand years in age, and no more, that
ought to settle all basic questions of terrestrial chronology.
Henry Morris - p. 94, The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth
A Potted History of Cosmology
Biblical Universe (Enuma Elish)
1000 BC
Before 1543 AD
Geocentric Universe
After 1543
Copernican Universe
After 1687
Newtonian Universe
After about 1850
1929
Now
Galactocentric Universe
Big Bang
Steady State
Inflation, Multiverse and Quantum Cosmology?
Next Model?
Yet the Next Model (and so on)?
1950
Hebrew/Babylonian Cosmology
Geocentric Universe
Heliocentric Universe
Our Location in Milky Way – Above
Our Location in Milky Way - Side
The Big Bang and Scientific Timescale
1) 0 second to 10-43 second. Only God knows or can know what happened during this period of time. We
know only that at least 9 dimensions of space existed as what is called singularity. All of the universe-to-be
existed as a point of no volume. Time as we know it was created.
2) 2. 10-43 second, also known as Planck time. This is the point at which gravity, one of the four unified
forces, became separate from the remaining three forces.
3) 10-36 second. The strong nuclear force (the force that holds the nuclei of atoms together) separated from
the other three unified forces.
4) 10-36 to 10-32 second. Immediately following and triggered by the separation of the strong nuclear force,
the universe expanded rapidly for this brief period of time.
5) 10-32 to 10-5 second. The universe is filled with quarks antiquarks, and electrons. The quarks and
antiquarks combine and annihilate each other. Quarks are in excess of antiquarks by a ratio of 1,000,000,001
to 1,000,000,000. The remaining quarks will make up all the matter that exists in the universe.
6) 10-12 second. The final two unified forces split from one another. Electromagnetism, which controls the
attraction of negatively and positively charged particles, becomes separate from the weak nuclear force,
which controls radioactive decay.
7) 10-5 second. The universe cools to 1,000,000,000,000 K allowing quarks to combine to form protons and
neutrons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei.
8) 1 second to 3 minutes. The universe continues to cool, allowing protons and neutrons to combine to form
the nuclei of future atoms.
9) 10-32 second to 3000 years. Electromagnetic energy, produced during the annihilation of quarks and
antiquarks, dominates the forces of gravity.
10) 3000 years to present. Matter becomes the primary source of gravity. Matter begins to clump with the aid
of large amounts of exotic or dark matter. This matter interacts weakly with electromagnetic energy, but is
able to clump with itself through gravity, even during the domination of electromagnetic energy.
11) 300,000 years. Continued expansion and cooling allow matter and electromagnetic energy to decouple.
The nuclei of atoms are able to capture electrons to form complete atoms of hydrogen, helium and lithium.
12) 200,000,000 years. Galaxy formation begins as matter continues to clump.
13) 9,000,000,000 years. The solar system forms.
14) 10,000,000,000 years. Life begins on earth.
15) 14,000,000,000 years. Jesus Christ conquers sin.
The inflationary big bang theory is, by far, the most accepted theory of the origin of the universe. All
evidence gathered to date supports this theory. Other theories rely upon sets of unlikely circumstances or
phenomenon which can never be tested or proven.
Taken from the Christian website http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/bigbang.html
Primordial Nucleosynthesis
The isotope 7Be decays to 7Li by electron capture with a half-life of 53 days. Some 3H (tritium) is also
formed, but beta decays to 3He with a half-life of 12 years.
Diagram from http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/astr_250/Lectures/Lec_27sml.htm
History up to the Late 1700s
Ca. 310 - 230 BC – Aristarchus of Samos was the first person known to
have proposed the heliocentric system, but this was mostly ignored in
favor of the geocentric system.
1543 - Copernicus publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium (On
the Revolution of the Heavenly Orbs).
1600 - Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his many heresies,
including teaching heliocentricism and that the stars are distant suns.
1632 - Galileo published the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
Systems of the World - Ptolemaic and Copernican, which ultimately led
to his trial.