"Martin Baxter" wrote in message
...

You know Dave, simply because a widely held does not make it untrue, quite
the opposite in most cases.


Cheers
Marty

I agree. For example, racial stereotypes are based upon elements of truth.
Making them less widely held beliefs does not make them untrue.

I don't see much causation and very little correlation between belief and
truth.

Take the belief that man is causing global warming. Models used to justify
man as the cause show several degrees warming in the next 100 years. Models
using sunspot numbers based upon past evidence predict a large cooling over
the same period: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2..._longrange.htm
.. Earth temperatureand solar activity have been shown to be correlated
over hundreds of years of data. Man caused global warming models seem to
work only in the future, but right now they are the popular belief. Man
caused global warming models could be made more accurate by assuming the sun
rotates around the earth as well as all other heavenly bodies, a very
popular belief held by many over a long period of time. Accurate
measurements may show the contrary about the movements of the heavens but
that can be resolved by changing the properties of time and space. Adding an
anthropomorphic element such as man's observation of the universe changing
events that happens millions of years in the past, millions of light years
away may help also. To some this may sound a bit silly, but to those
practiced in the art:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-universe.html
it is a plausible belief. The underlying cause of such irrational
non-thinking is the discarding of truth and methodology and the rise of
using any means to justify desired outcome. This type of non-thinking
permeates leftist politics, has crept into the soft sciences and now is
making inroads into the hard sciences.