Don't think so. Proven how? By whom? When? Anything not proven impossible is possible, not mandatory.
Michio Kaku
I realize this is not the science or philosophy group. But Michio Kaku proves one of my favorite thesis in that physicist are not scientist but a weird sub-species of mathematician.
Correction: "Anything that not proven impossible, is mandatory."
Physics of the Impossible, Preface, page 15, paragraph 2 It is a corrolary of T.H. White's famous dictum in One And Future King, "Anything that is not forbidden, is mandatory."
Probably, no field of learning reflects Kaku's corrollary more than astronomy. The history of exoplanet discovery since October of 1995 has been one impossibly after another proven to be false. Probably the most blatant example is the insistence by NASA that Hubble might (if all the stars were aligned and it had a real good day) photograph a planet. They didn't hold out much hope. That was 1991. In May of 2008, it photographed Fomalhaut b. Sounds like they were correct.
Not exactly. In February of 2009, a team discovered that Hubble photographed an exoplanet in 1998 only no one knew because no one bothered to look. Worse, the team said that they suspected the Hubble may have photographed 200 planets, all of them ignored by NASA scientists. Call it a lack of intellectual curiosity. Call it laziness. Or, call it a perfect example of something not proven impossible being mandatory, All this would be hilarious if so much wasn't at stake.
I am sure I am not understanding your point. So you are saying Science Fiction is a good thing because it sometimes predicts the future? It is not much of a stretch to say T.H. White is a Science Fiction writer, which may be true.
Actually, nearly all sci fi over the past thirty years has been fantasy tinged. The Once And Future King isn't a stretch as sci fi. It's pretty average.
What isn't average is the optimistic sci fi of Wells, Burroughs, Heinlein and Asimov. Mars as the next great frontier died with the first pictures of Mariner IV and sci fi turned either extremely outward or increasingly inward. Now, when people recommend books as the latest in sci fi, I find myself reading the latest nonsense by someone either agog with nanotechnology or the end of the Earth. In any case, the future looks anything but hospitable.
At the very time when sci fi should be exploring all the ramifications of our discovering an interstellar civilization on our doorstep, our stories seem to be racing in the other direction.
"Anything that not proven impossible, is mandatory."
I would suggest that even the concept of proof is not absolute. There have been many proofs in the past that, with further revelation of the universe, turn out to not be so true...
Quantum mechanics, string theory, fusion, and many other explorations have left old proofs in the dust.
It is a great time to be alive
Fred
That was the point Kaku was making. I think you will find his Physics of the Impossible lots of fun. And, it's interesting that you mention string theory. Kaku is co author of the theory.
In any case, the Hubble scope and exoplanets is a perfect example of scientists who should have known better. They would have profited from Kaku's dictum. What would have been one consequence if they had? They wouldn't be playing second fiddle to the Swiss (which has to bite). Imagine, the Swiss world beaters in something other than watches, tax dodges and Winter Olympics?!!!
Fred,
And future proofs will blow away Quantum mechanics, string theory, etc.
There is a plan proposed by a powerful faction in NASA of sending people to Mars to orbit the planet as they use robots to kick rocks. They claim it will accomplish as much as sending humans to the planet's surface. Drawing on Kaku's dictum, one could say that the proposal is one of containment, that it's designed not to find too much.
Just to remind people, the issue of life on Luna is once more in play. The discovery of water ice raises the very real possibility of microbial life existing at one time. The argument that the elements of a spontaneous origin never existed is irrelevant. Poly extremophiles such as Deinococcus Radiodurans that can survive in the harshest environments including deep space make it so. If evidence is found, the only question will be origin of the life: Earth? Mars? Europa? A planet orbiting a nearby star? From a planet on the far side of the Universe long, long, long ago.?
Anything not proven impossible, is mandatory.
