| The Scientific Value of Coincidence -
11-18-2007, 11:38 PM
Galileo demystified Aristotelian thought, by proving that all objects descend at the same rate of acceleration regardless of mass value, in the absence of air resistance. This discovery implied more than a mere, inadvertant 'coincidence'...
Roland Von Eotvos - in searching for the anticipated differences - refined this (unanticipated) 'coincidence' by proving that it holds true down to a billionth (and less) of a second.
Einstein produced the General Theory out of this 'coincidence', finding that inert and heavy mass values are indistinguishable.
When science encounters a 'coincidence', such a finding can alert the observer that there may be 'something to it', beyond coincidence.
Coincidences therefore should not be underestimated, but instead, focused upon and pursued to resolution which may uncover unforeseen answers.
Best regards,
- RP (George Berkeley, 1710) ... lay the beginning in a distinct explication of what is meant by thing, reality, existence: for in vain shall we dispute concerning the real existence of things, or pretend to any knowledge thereof, so long as we have not fixed the meaning of those words. "All things come out of the one and the one out of all things." - Heraclitus "Reality is an illusion - albeit a persistent one." - Einstein "Particles give me a headache." - Ibid |