2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor, Nov. 27
Issue date: 11/27/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Dear Editor,
It seems we use probability, chance, and odds often to describe what is happening in the universe. In physics we say that the odds that an electron is in a certain position are very high or very low.
Indeed, Professor Tabak mentions that "a strong case can be made using statistics and probability arguments that there is indeed life elsewhere in the universe."
Scientific consensus in physics and astronomy seems to be constantly changing. For example, 15 years ago the odds in favor of Pluto being a planet were very high.
But recently Pluto has been reclassified, and the odds in favor of it being a planet are not as high.
It seems to me that many of our scientific findings are often based on non-physical evidence and inference from data we collect. None of us has touched nor seen an electron.
None of us has physically been to Jupiter nor obtained a physical sample of it. Yet the odds in favor of Jupiter or an electron existing are enormous.
While studying astrophysics at YSU in the late 1960s we learned we could take all available data and develop a model of a planet's atmosphere.
The odds in favor of this model being correct had a certain value. As more data poured in, the odds in favor of that model being correct changed.
New and exciting scientific discoveries are constantly being made: black holes, dark matter, gamma ray bursts and others. Might we soon discover that velocities greater than c, the velocity of light, are possible?
Perhaps we should develop a new branch of astronomy which entertains this notion of velocities greater than c.
Could it be that our extraterrestrial counterparts have developed a mathematics and physics based on this premise and it is so superior to what we have developed that we can't easily detect them until they "slow down"?
It would be thrilling to see various departments at YSU be innovators in developing courses that would study the existence of extraterrestrials, their technologies, and their physics/mathematics systems.
Jack Auman,
1970 YSU graduate,
mathematics major
It seems we use probability, chance, and odds often to describe what is happening in the universe. In physics we say that the odds that an electron is in a certain position are very high or very low.
Indeed, Professor Tabak mentions that "a strong case can be made using statistics and probability arguments that there is indeed life elsewhere in the universe."
Scientific consensus in physics and astronomy seems to be constantly changing. For example, 15 years ago the odds in favor of Pluto being a planet were very high.
But recently Pluto has been reclassified, and the odds in favor of it being a planet are not as high.
It seems to me that many of our scientific findings are often based on non-physical evidence and inference from data we collect. None of us has touched nor seen an electron.
None of us has physically been to Jupiter nor obtained a physical sample of it. Yet the odds in favor of Jupiter or an electron existing are enormous.
While studying astrophysics at YSU in the late 1960s we learned we could take all available data and develop a model of a planet's atmosphere.
The odds in favor of this model being correct had a certain value. As more data poured in, the odds in favor of that model being correct changed.
New and exciting scientific discoveries are constantly being made: black holes, dark matter, gamma ray bursts and others. Might we soon discover that velocities greater than c, the velocity of light, are possible?
Perhaps we should develop a new branch of astronomy which entertains this notion of velocities greater than c.
Could it be that our extraterrestrial counterparts have developed a mathematics and physics based on this premise and it is so superior to what we have developed that we can't easily detect them until they "slow down"?
It would be thrilling to see various departments at YSU be innovators in developing courses that would study the existence of extraterrestrials, their technologies, and their physics/mathematics systems.
Jack Auman,
1970 YSU graduate,
mathematics major
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