Quote:You do have to admire the flexibility of physicists. They keep building their house of cards. If your theory has a hole in it you just invent a new particle or force to explain the discrepency without considering the basic science may have problems.
Well, Einstein was long convinced the universe was static, until Hubble set him straight at his telescope. What Einstein defined as "his biggest blunder", a constant that made a static universe possible (was it the 'gamma'?) is now brought back...TO JUSTIFY AN EVER EXPANDING UNIVERSE.
Contemporary physicist blame old timers as Newton zealots and ridicule them for not seeing the many flaws in newtonian physics...yet they are equally zealous in their Einstein fixation.
As for the degenerates at degreediscussion...
I think Gollin is just throwing names and exotic catch-phrases to his opponent.
Take gamma ray bursts, for example.
Some argue they come from the far end of space.
Last theory I heard involves the clashing of clouds of expansion gas against one another.
And if I am not mistaken, some other egghead thinks they come from supermassive stars.
String theory?
Most eggheads will tell you the name makes little sense, because there are so many 'string theories' differing in so many aspects...