A is for ANSWERS

Why Do The Answers Keep Changing?

When I was in school, they had textbooks with the answers in the back.  Did you?

Don't you wish life came with the answers in the back?

Of course, many of the answers given in those textbooks have now been proven wrong.

Life insists on being like that.

In 1666 Isaac Newton proposed his theory of gravitation. 

This was one of the greatest intellectual feats of all time. 

The theory explained all the observed facts, and made predictions that were later tested 

and found to be correct within the accuracy of the instruments being used. 

As far as anyone could see, Newton's theory was ``the Truth''.
During the nineteenth century, more accurate instruments were used to test Newton's theory, 

these observations uncovered some slight discrepancies. 

Albert Einstein proposed his theories of Relativity, 

which explained the newly observed facts and made more predictions. 

 Those predictions have now been tested and found to be correct within the accuracy of the instruments being used. 

As far as anyone could see, Einstein's theory was ``the Truth''. 


Scientists at the National Institute of Standard and Technology have proven beyond reasonable doubt 

that Einstein was wrong 

about one of the main principles of quantum mechanics and that "spooky action at a distance" is actually real.


Each month the internet states things like: 

"Eggs are bad for you."

Six months later, 

"Oh wait, they're actually good for you."



"Pluto is a planet."

Oops, no it is not."

"Ah, yes, it actually is."

(In this year's annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, 

a new definition of planet will state that it is) 
  

And what about morality?

Science does not make moral judgments. 

Anyone who tries to draw moral lessons from the laws of nature is on very dangerous ground.


Like Pilate before us, we are left with the question: 

"What is Truth?"

Perhaps the world and the universe in which it spins is just too vast for finite minds to comprehend fully.


As Paul from Tarsus wrote: 
We see as through a mirror darkly.

"Trust the man who searches for truth.  Doubt the man who says he has found it."
 - Mark Twain