# SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the Relativitiy of Wrong package. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: Relativitiy of Wrong VERSION\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2016-07-30 07:50+0200\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:2 msgid "From The Skeptical Inquirer, Fall 1989, Vol. 14, No. 1, Pp. 35-44" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:4 msgid "The Relativity of Wrong" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:6 msgid "By Isaac Asimov" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:15 msgid "" "I RECEIVED a letter the other day. It was handwritten in crabbed penmanship " "so that it was very difficult to read. Nevertheless, I tried to make it out " "just in case it might prove to be important. In the first sentence, the " "writer told me he was majoring in English literature, but felt he needed to " "teach me science. (I sighed a bit, for I knew very few English Lit majors " "who are equipped to teach me science, but I am very aware of the vast state " "of my ignorance and I am prepared to learn as much as I can from anyone, so " "I read on.)" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:19 msgid "" "It seemed that in one of my innumerable essays, I had expressed a certain " "gladness at living in a century in which we finally got the basis of the " "universe straight." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:29 msgid "" "I didn't go into detail in the matter, but what I meant was that we now know " "the basic rules governing the universe, together with the gravitational " "interrelationships of its gross components, as shown in the theory of " "relativity worked out between 1905 and 1916. We also know the basic rules " "governing the subatomic particles and their interrelationships, since these " "are very neatly described by the quantum theory worked out between 1900 and " "1930. What's more, we have found that the galaxies and clusters of galaxies " "are the basic units of the physical universe, as discovered between 1920 and " "1930." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:31 msgid "These are all twentieth-century discoveries, you see." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:42 msgid "" "The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me " "severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they " "understood the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be " "wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern " "\"knowledge\" is that it is wrong. The young man then quoted with approval " "what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed " "him the wisest man in Greece. \"If I am the wisest man,\" said Socrates, " "\"it is because I alone know that I know nothing.\" the implication was that " "I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:48 msgid "" "My answer to him was, \"John, when people thought the earth was flat, they " "were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were " "wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as " "wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of " "them put together.\"" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:52 msgid "" "The basic trouble, you see, is that people think that \"right\" and " "\"wrong\" are absolute; that everything that isn't perfectly and completely " "right is totally and equally wrong." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:56 msgid "" "However, I don't think that's so. It seems to me that right and wrong are " "fuzzy concepts, and I will devote this essay to an explanation of why I " "think so." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:61 msgid "" "When my friend the English literature expert tells me that in every century " "scientists think they have worked out the universe and are always wrong, " "what I want to know is how wrong are they? Are they always wrong to the same " "degree? Let's take an example." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:68 msgid "" "In the early days of civilization, the general feeling was that the earth " "was flat. This was not because people were stupid, or because they were " "intent on believing silly things. They felt it was flat on the basis of " "sound evidence. It was not just a matter of \"That's how it looks,\" because " "the earth does not look flat. It looks chaotically bumpy, with hills, " "valleys, ravines, cliffs, and so on." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:73 msgid "" "Of course there are plains where, over limited areas, the earth's surface " "does look fairly flat. One of those plains is in the Tigris-Euphrates area, " "where the first historical civilization (one with writing) developed, that " "of the Sumerians." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:80 msgid "" "Perhaps it was the appearance of the plain that persuaded the clever " "Sumerians to accept the generalization that the earth was flat; that if you " "somehow evened out all the elevations and depressions, you would be left " "with flatness. Contributing to the notion may have been the fact that " "stretches of water (ponds and lakes) looked pretty flat on quiet days." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:86 msgid "" "Another way of looking at it is to ask what is the \"curvature\" of the " "earth's surface. Over a considerable length, how much does the surface " "deviate (on the average) from perfect flatness. The flat-earth theory would " "make it seem that the surface doesn't deviate from flatness at all, that its " "curvature is 0 to the mile." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:92 msgid "" "Nowadays, of course, we are taught that the flat-earth theory is wrong; that " "it is all wrong, terribly wrong, absolutely. But it isn't. The curvature of " "the earth is nearly 0 per mile, so that although the flat-earth theory is " "wrong, it happens to be nearly right. That's why the theory lasted so long." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:101 msgid "" "There were reasons, to be sure, to find the flat-earth theory unsatisfactory " "and, about 350 B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle summarized them. First, " "certain stars disappeared beyond the Southern Hemisphere as one traveled " "north, and beyond the Northern Hemisphere as one traveled south. Second, the " "earth's shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse was always the arc of a " "circle. Third, here on the earth itself, ships disappeared beyond the " "horizon hull-first in whatever direction they were traveling." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:105 msgid "" "All three observations could not be reasonably explained if the earth's " "surface were flat, but could be explained by assuming the earth to be a " "sphere." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:111 msgid "" "What's more, Aristotle believed that all solid matter tended to move toward " "a common center, and if solid matter did this, it would end up as a " "sphere. A given volume of matter is, on the average, closer to a common " "center if it is a sphere than if it is any other shape whatever." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:118 msgid "" "About a century after Aristotle, the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes noted " "that the sun cast a shadow of different lengths at different latitudes (all " "the shadows would be the same length if the earth's surface were flat). From " "the difference in shadow length, he calculated the size of the earthly " "sphere and it turned out to be 25,000 miles in circumference." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:124 msgid "" "The curvature of such a sphere is about 0.000126 per mile, a quantity very " "close to 0 per mile, as you can see, and one not easily measured by the " "techniques at the disposal of the ancients. The tiny difference between 0 " "and 0.000126 accounts for the fact that it took so long to pass from the " "flat earth to the spherical earth." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:132 msgid "" "Mind you, even a tiny difference, such as that between 0 and 0.000126, can " "be extremely important. That difference mounts up. The earth cannot be " "mapped over large areas with any accuracy at all if the difference isn't " "taken into account and if the earth isn't considered a sphere rather than a " "flat surface. Long ocean voyages can't be undertaken with any reasonable way " "of locating one's own position in the ocean unless the earth is considered " "spherical rather than flat." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:138 msgid "" "Furthermore, the flat earth presupposes the possibility of an infinite " "earth, or of the existence of an \"end\" to the surface. The spherical " "earth, however, postulates an earth that is both endless and yet finite, and " "it is the latter postulate that is consistent with all later findings." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:142 msgid "" "So, although the flat-earth theory is only slightly wrong and is a credit to " "its inventors, all things considered, it is wrong enough to be discarded in " "favor of the spherical-earth theory." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:144 msgid "And yet is the earth a sphere?" msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:150 msgid "" "No, it is not a sphere; not in the strict mathematical sense. A sphere has " "certain mathematical properties - for instance, all diameters (that is, all " "straight lines that pass from one point on its surface, through the center, " "to another point on its surface) have the same length." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:153 msgid "" "That, however, is not true of the earth. Various diameters of the earth " "differ in length." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:159 msgid "" "What gave people the notion the earth wasn't a true sphere? To begin with, " "the sun and the moon have outlines that are perfect circles within the " "limits of measurement in the early days of the telescope. This is " "consistent with the supposition that the sun and the moon are perfectly " "spherical in shape." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:164 msgid "" "However, when Jupiter and Saturn were observed by the first telescopic " "observers, it became quickly apparent that the outlines of those planets " "were not circles, but distinct ellipses. That meant that Jupiter and Saturn " "were not true spheres." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:173 msgid "" "Isaac Newton, toward the end of the seventeenth century, showed that a " "massive body would form a sphere under the pull of gravitational forces " "(exactly as Aristotle had argued), but only if it were not rotating. If it " "were rotating, a centrifugal effect would be set up that would lift the " "body's substance against gravity, and this effect would be greater the " "closer to the equator you progressed. The effect would also be greater the " "more rapidly a spherical object rotated, and Jupiter and Saturn rotated very " "rapidly indeed." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:178 msgid "" "The earth rotated much more slowly than Jupiter or Saturn so the effect " "should be smaller, but it should still be there. Actual measurements of the " "curvature of the earth were carried out in the eighteenth century and Newton " "was proved correct." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:187 msgid "" "The earth has an equatorial bulge, in other words. It is flattened at the " "poles. It is an \"oblate spheroid\" rather than a sphere. This means that " "the various diameters of the earth differ in length. The longest diameters " "are any of those that stretch from one point on the equator to an opposite " "point on the equator. This \"equatorial diameter\" is 12,755 kilometers " "(7,927 miles). The shortest diameter is from the North Pole to the South " "Pole and this \"polar diameter\" is 12,711 kilometers (7,900 miles)." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:192 msgid "" "The difference between the longest and shortest diameters is 44 kilometers " "(27 miles), and that means that the \"oblateness\" of the earth (its " "departure from true sphericity) is 44/12755, or 0.0034. This amounts to 1/3 " "of 1 percent." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:198 msgid "" "To put it another way, on a flat surface, curvature is 0 per mile " "everywhere. On the earth's spherical surface, curvature is 0.000126 per mile " "everywhere (or 8 inches per mile). On the earth's oblate spheroidal surface, " "the curvature varies from 7.973 inches to the mile to 8.027 inches to the " "mile." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:203 msgid "" "The correction in going from spherical to oblate spheroidal is much smaller " "than going from flat to spherical. Therefore, although the notion of the " "earth as a sphere is wrong, strictly speaking, it is not as wrong as the " "notion of the earth as flat." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:212 msgid "" "Even the oblate-spheroidal notion of the earth is wrong, strictly " "speaking. In 1958, when the satellite Vanguard I was put into orbit about " "the earth, it was able to measure the local gravitational pull of the " "earth--and therefore its shape--with unprecedented precision. It turned out " "that the equatorial bulge south of the equator was slightly bulgier than the " "bulge north of the equator, and that the South Pole sea level was slightly " "nearer the center of the earth than the North Pole sea level was." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:219 msgid "" "There seemed no other way of describing this than by saying the earth was " "pear-shaped, and at once many people decided that the earth was nothing like " "a sphere but was shaped like a Bartlett pear dangling in space. Actually, " "the pear-like deviation from oblate-spheroid perfect was a matter of yards " "rather than miles, and the adjustment of curvature was in the millionths of " "an inch per mile." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:225 msgid "" "In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights " "and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth " "may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow " "icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:230 msgid "" "What actually happens is that once scientists get hold of a good concept " "they gradually refine and extend it with greater and greater subtlety as " "their instruments of measurement improve. Theories are not so much wrong as " "incomplete." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:236 msgid "" "This can be pointed out in many cases other than just the shape of the " "earth. Even when a new theory seems to represent a revolution, it usually " "arises out of small refinements. If something more than a small refinement " "were needed, then the old theory would never have endured." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:245 msgid "" "Copernicus switched from an earth-centered planetary system to a " "sun-centered one. In doing so, he switched from something that was obvious " "to something that was apparently ridiculous. However, it was a matter of " "finding better ways of calculating the motion of the planets in the sky, and " "eventually the geocentric theory was just left behind. It was precisely " "because the old theory gave results that were fairly good by the measurement " "standards of the time that kept it in being so long." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:252 msgid "" "Again, it is because the geological formations of the earth change so slowly " "and the living things upon it evolve so slowly that it seemed reasonable at " "first to suppose that there was no change and that the earth and life always " "existed as they do today. If that were so, it would make no difference " "whether the earth and life were billions of years old or " "thousands. Thousands were easier to grasp." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:257 msgid "" "But when careful observation showed that the earth and life were changing at " "a rate that was very tiny but not zero, then it became clear that the earth " "and life had to be very old. Modern geology came into being, and so did the " "notion of biological evolution." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:264 msgid "" "If the rate of change were more rapid, geology and evolution would have " "reached their modern state in ancient times. It is only because the " "difference between the rate of change in a static universe and the rate of " "change in an evolutionary one is that between zero and very nearly zero that " "the creationists can continue propagating their folly." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:269 msgid "" "Since the refinements in theory grow smaller and smaller, even quite ancient " "theories must have been sufficiently right to allow advances to be made; " "advances that were not wiped out by subsequent refinements." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:274 msgid "" "The Greeks introduced the notion of latitude and longitude, for instance, " "and made reasonable maps of the Mediterranean basin even without taking " "sphericity into account, and we still use latitude and longitude today." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:280 msgid "" "The Sumerians were probably the first to establish the principle that " "planetary movements in the sky exhibit regularity and can be predicted, and " "they proceeded to work out ways of doing so even though they assumed the " "earth to be the center of the universe. Their measurements have been " "enormously refined but the principle remains." msgstr "" #. type: Plain text #: The_Relativity_of_Wrong.txt:283 msgid "" "Naturally, the theories we now have might be considered wrong in the " "simplistic sense of my English Lit correspondent, but in a much truer and " "subtler sense, they need only be considered incomplete." msgstr ""