The Poetry of Physics

Inquirer:

I will standby what I said. Religion cannot be changed and Science does change on logic and experiment. Call this the beauty of science or the beauty of religion but this also implies religion cannot be based on science. I was just giving my opinion in response to some interacts who were trying to support religion or Islam through Science. I also do not want to say that Quran says something that is wrong as I am tolerant about religious people just like the way I am tolerant about the people who are non-religious.

Fitaa:
Sorry, I came out stronger than I should or had to. But it is frustrating to see religion being touted as superior science, when in reality its effect on humans has been mostly negative.
Your article is OK as far as it goes. Though I do not think it brings ut the comparison and contrast between physics and poetry.
#20: You do not think that your last paragraph utterly confuses physics and religion and justify superiority of religion over science? If so, I am afraid we have different logics of thinking.

tahmed32,#23: I totally agree only your second paragraph!
#24: The picture should put in perspective, the importance of earth and its inhabitants but remember humans have only earth, hence, though there be riches, they have to protect the mere penny that they have!

Very well written article on a subject far, far more important than the stuff the newspapers fuss about.

Through use of inductive and deductive reasoning, the human mind has been able to extend its reach way beyond what our intuition can grasp. As Shakespeare said: ````The heavens are not stranger than we imagine. The heavens are stranger than we CAN imagine.``

Fitaa: Here is some visual poetry (the famous picture of the Eagle Nubula, the enormous dust cloud where stars are being formed - the earth would be a microscopic point in this picture

Inquirer:

Read the article again and then other interacts and then my interact.

Leave it to Muslims, they will insert religion and quran in everything. They need to grow out of this childishness!!
All religions, including quran, talk about things in vague terms, if they really undestood scientific princiles, they would invent things and achieve ability to do things at will!!!!!!!!!!!
Then Muslim world would not have been the backwaters of Garedrlias (camel-tenders) they have been!
Fitaa, you need to study physics, not try to sell Islamic religion throuh the camouflage of physics.

Thanks readers for all your comments. I really appreicate these but please dont get political or religious. I dont write about politics or religion as it sparks mostly meaningless debates.

But i would say one thing. This is not against religion but in favor of religion.

``Religion must not be supported by Science. Science keeps changing but religion does not``. I remember my Science teacher giving a reference to Quran when teaching about electron and proton implying everything is made in pairs as said in Quran but we know now that the `world of atom` can be very well infinite. I am not saying what is written in Quran is wrong but it could have some other meaning. Some could argue that it is matter and anti matter but the point is we shouldnt base religion on some changing facts.

``Our sixth sense feels them and we have deviced mathematical interpretation to understand them or to predict them but that is all they are - mathematical interpretations.``


very enlightening - i didnt know (in my very limited understanding) that Mathematicians have been in the business
of making non-falsifiable claims like for instance: sixth sense itself.

Nice, but it could have used a better title. There`s emphasis on poetry but no poetry in this article. Which also explains the over-whelming nature of Physics. May I suggest you dig deeper into the history and philosophy of Physics. Knowing your Physics and the way physicists thought and think, you can definitely sound like a poetic physicist, and inspire the masses. Please keep going.

hamidm

For your eyes only:

Theory of Relativity in Qura`n; speed of angels etc.

http://islam.speed-light.info/relativity_quran.htm#RELATIVITY_QURAN_KORAN_Speed%20of%20Light%20a%20constant%20299792.5%20km/s

I am a physics enthusiast myself. It took me almost a year to finsih `a brief history of time` since it takes you to such imaginative tours as fitaa wrote.

But more I think about it the more I am getting convinced that there does not exist any universe out of Newtonian Mechanics. That is absolutely complete model of our existence. I am begining to accept the insignificance of the universe that surrounds us. Sure there are phenomenons which can only be interpretted thru the theory of relativity or Quantum Physics, but these phenomenon lie beyond our five senses. Our sixth sense feels them and we have deviced mathematical interpretation to understand them or to predict them but that is all they are - mathematical interpretations. Our world ends at Newtonian mechanics.

``If you want to know the mind of man, study religion; if you want to know the mind of God, study physics``

``....There was a time, when one could create controversy, get a fatwa passed against one`s self, and get a good publishing contract. But I think this phase will eventually pass.....

Anyone looking towards Rushdie and Nasreen for any kind of revival of Islamic thought are more lost than most of the mullahs out there..........``

OTH I find Rushdie and Nasreen extremely well articulated on the entrenched religious positions and which is the reason why the mullahs and their ``supporters`` continue rubbing their @rse and spewing fatwas.
After 9/11 I am glad that disenchantment with the mullah brigade has already begun. And I find that the world had started gathering it`s intellectual resources to fight them at an ideological level as well. Infact the supporters of dictators are well know supporters of theocratic form of governance and there is an increasing intellectual focus on these issues as well. You are bound to find more Phds and books getting published in the academic circles in the next few years. So, my prediction- just as Soviet Communism as an elite ideology got exposed and banished we are bound to find these mullah brigade getting exposed and banished forever within the next decade.......

singularity # 7 - u write ``Too bad it is gonna be hijacked by the Mullah brigand which is gonna make tall claims like KORAN already stated Einstein`s Theory of relativity and that Mohamad is the LAST Scienctist and no other scientist`s claim is true. ``

actually, with all due respect, you seem to be coming across as more ignorant of the role of religion than the mullahs. Just like ignorant mullahs, you have made a claim (about Quran being a book of science) and generalized it to include all of Islam.

Now before you worry about whether muslims will get into the bandwagon of 21st century or not, it may not be a bad idea that you get on as well by understanding that Bible, Torah, and Quran are not meant to be science books. They provide a code of conduct and thought to the people of faith. But at the same time they implore their adeherents to ``explore``, ``reason``, and ``discover``.

Some of the biggest jewish scientists were also very religious. And Quran certainly did not impede Avecena (ibn Sina) and Averros (Ibn Rashid) from exploring space or setting the basis of modern day maths.

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``....There was a time, when one could create controversy, get a fatwa passed against one`s self, and get a good publishing contract. But I think this phase will eventually pass.....

Anyone looking towards Rushdie and Nasreen for any kind of revival of Islamic thought are more lost than most of the mullahs out there..........``

OTH I find Rushdie and Nasreen extremely well articulated on the entrenched religious positions and which is the reason why the mullahs and their ``supporters`` continue rubbing their @rse and spewing fatwas.
After 9/11 I am glad that disenchantment with the mullah brigade has already begun. And I find that the world had started gathering it`s intellectual resources to fight them at an ideological level as well. Infact the supporters of dictators are well know supporters of theocratic form of governance and there is an increasing intellectual focus on these issues as well. You are bound to find more Phds and books getting published in the academic circles in the next few years. So, my prediction- just as Soviet Communism as an elite ideology got exposed and banished we are bound to find these mullah brigade getting exposed and banished forever within the next decade.......