Thread: Sceptics, please explain this

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Magnets!
It is interesting that scientists have figured out that some particles are negative while some are positive, and this is the foundation of all knowledge on electricity and magnetism. However, they still do not know why, or how, or what negative and positive charges really are.

The electric charge of an atom is related to the number of protons and electrons, the former having positive charge and the later negative.

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Magnets!
It is interesting that scientists have figured out that some particles are negative while some are positive, and this is the foundation of all knowledge on electricity and magnetism. However, they still do not know why, or how, or what negative and positive charges really are.

What you say is pretty much true, but I think you are reaching the wrong conclusion. This is a perfect response from one of the greatest physicists ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM

You can't ask why forever. No matter if your explanations are spiritual or scientific, they will never be deductible a priori. They will always rely on some assertions and some principles of inference which themselves require explanation.

So in the end you must simply accept a number of axiomatic assertions. What distinguishes a good set of axioms from another is if they have evidence.

Charge, and Maxwell's equations, are examples of such axioms, and they have been tested to the extreme and found to be excellent. You can't ask why charge exists; it just does.

Originally Posted by juroara

My argument was based on the REALITY that people have been burned. If the answer was so simple that the surface of the coal isn't hot enough to burn - then no one should get burned. My argument was based on another scientific research - that measured the surfaced temperature of the coal - and found it to be hot enough to burn anyone. But not everyone was burned.

I didn't deny all other possibilities. But you find it necessary to toss insults.

FYI, the Mythbusters tried this one, and they showed that anyone who knew how to walk (i.e. not dig your feet down in to the coal) wouldn't get burned... You'll find it on youtube.

Yes, I'm aware of it. That was my position before as well. I don't think all coal walking is made equal.

Originally Posted by juroara

Yes, I'm aware of it. That was my position before as well. I don't think all coal walking is made equal.

What do you mean by that?...

Originally Posted by Nick89

YouTube - Mind Body & Kick Ass Moves Chi Gong Skills 1 Seriously sharp

Don't waste energy trying to convert skeptics into believers. It's up to each one of us to chose our own beliefs. A skeptic would just come up with some scientific explanation for anything "super-natural". I believe in chi, psi and all that jazz but I wouldn't "challenge" skeptics.

The difference is that skeptics choose their beliefs based on whether or not there's any reason to think they're true. How quaint of them!