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from the in-a-parallel-Vatican-somewhere-in-the-universe dept.
Papas Fritas writes:
"Megann Gannon reports that nearly 200 scientists are attending a conference, called "The Search for Life Beyond the Solar System: Exoplanets, Biosignature & Instruments," co-hosted by the Vatican Observatory with the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory.
The goal of the conference is to bring together the interdisciplinary community required to address this multi-faceted challenge: experts on exoplanet observations, early and extreme life on Earth, atmospheric biosignatures, and planet-finding telescopes. 'Finding life beyond Earth is one of the great challenges of modern science and we are excited to have the world leaders in this field together in Tucson,' says Daniel Apai. 'But reaching such an ambitious goal takes planning and time. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how we can find life among the stars within the next two decades.'
According to the organizers, the conference will cover the technical challenges of finding and imaging exoplanets and identifying biosignatures in the atmospheres of far-flung worlds. Other presentations will discuss the study of life forms that live in extreme environments on Earth, which could be apt analogs for life on other planets. Scientists will give more than 160 research presentations (PDF) during this week's conference and NASA's Astrobiology Institute will broadcast a live feed of the sessions. Catholic leaders say that alien life can be aligned with the Bible's teachings. 'Just as a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God,' says Father Jose Funes"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday March 21 2014, @02:32PM
Genesis 30:37-39 doesn't say that the stakes caused genetic changes, just that after putting the stakes down he got the colors he wanted. The stakes didn't cause it, God did.
As to Joshua 10: 12-13, you have never experienced time dilation? There was no such thing as a clock then; the sun, moon, and stars were the only way to tell time. It isn't like Joshua could check his cell phone and say "damn, it's only been five minutes. It seems like hours." Einstein said "when you're with a pretty girl, hours seem like minutes. When your hand is on fire minutes seem like hours."
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by monster on Friday March 21 2014, @02:51PM
I really hope your scientific knowledge is not as limited as it appears to be from your comment, but here we go:
Saying "God did it" doesn't explain WHY it was needed to put such stakes to get those changes, just to start. Nowhere it is implied that it was any kind of altar, nor that there was any praying going on. So, if your answer is just to ignore what the book says and put forward a "God did it because so" argument, and think you are debating the issue, it's really shortsighted. That really is "not even wrong".
For the "time dilation" part: Do you even know what time dilation is? it's not a feeling, it's a real, physical thing. Do you know that it is related to variations in speed, and the kind of variations needed to have such effects as described? Also, the book doesn't say that they felt the time had passed more slowly, it really says that the sun and moon stood still until the battle was over!. And using a silly metaphor as an argument is again not debating: Even if Einstein himself said it, it wasn't intended as a rigorous explanation of the phenomenon, it was just some food for thought for the everyman.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday March 21 2014, @08:02PM
There are two types of time dilation: relativistic effects that no person will experience, and observed dilation.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org