Re: Pluto: Pwned!

rich hammett wrote:
Minun olisi pitänyt tietää, olisi pitänyt tietää,
olisi pitänyt tietää KUKA SINÄ OLET, stephenj:

rich hammett wrote:

Minun olisi pitänyt tietää, olisi pitänyt tietää,
olisi pitänyt tietää KUKA SINÄ OLET, stephenj:


deemsbill@xxxxxxx wrote:


Chris Mihos wrote:



http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html

heh.

Does this mean it's gonna hafta join the Big East?


just because the astronomers have spoken doesn't mean the rest of us have to pay attention. it would be a shame if kids started getting marked down for answering "pluto" when their 3rd grade science teacher asks them to name all the planets ...


Yeah! And if they name "bleargh" as a color, that shouldn't be
marked down, either. And if they name Puerto Rico as a state of
the US, that shouldn't be marked down, either.


earth to hammett- the basis for allowing astronomers to define these kinds of objects is based on their expertise in the science of these objects. but if there is no scientific dimension to whether pluto is called a 'planet' or not, there's no basis for letting them define it for the rest of us.


Regardless of Mihos' disinterest, there IS a scientific
dimension. Taxonomy is incredibly important in science.

i didn't get the idea that mihos was disinterested, just that there wasn't a scientific issue at stake here, that it's just about labels. and if so, then why bother changing the labels that people, the general public, are comfortable with?


but the classification goes a long way to steering how
things are studied.

well not according to the astronomers around here. but hey if you're right, then take it up with them.

Understanding Pluto as a Kuiper-belt
object adds a lot more than just considering it as something
of the same kind as Jupiter.

In this case, of course, you are showing your typical religous
devotion to the Past. For some reason, an arbitrary decision
made in the 1930's is more valid than one made in 2006.

the 'some reason' is that over time Pluto has come to be culturally accepted as a planet. if there's no scientifically compelling reason to change that, why bother?

--
"when i visited Aden before collectivization,
all the markets were full of fish product. After
collectivization, the fish immediately disappeared."

- Aleksandr Vassiliev, Soviet KGB official
.

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