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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

As For the Content of the Video.... Part 1

There really wasn't anything substantial. Most of the video is spent talking about the big bang. Much of what was said reflected rather old views of the theory, because the more modern you get with big bang theory, the less it can be used to support pseudo-scientific creationist ideas.
They don't really stay on one subject for very long, possibly because they really don't know what they're talking about, and jump randomly from one subject to another, at one point they are making a case that atheism is religious, and that scientists are foolish for sticking to what they call 'materialism' which should really have been called Methodological Naturalism instead, there is a subtle but important difference. Many prominent scientists are also theists, but through methodological naturalism their faith in the supernatural doesn't affect how they do science. This is probably something that creationists might never understand, as they have this warped idea that the bible is a science book, a view not shared by scientists or theologians.

Some of the things they said particularly annoy me, as you can probably understand why with this quote.
"A key doctrine of the atheist faith entails that if the universe is eternal then it does not need a cause"
Nope, wrong. All atheism is, and all it ever will be is the non-belief in god(s).  Straight after this they go straight into thermodynamics quoting the second law as creationists tend to do. If you ever meet a creationist and have a discussion with them where they bring up the second law of thermodynamics, ask them what the other laws are. As a reference, here they are.

Zeroth Law

This law is about separate systems coming into contact with each other and exchanging heat until there is an equilibrium between the two systems.

Wikipedia says: If two thermodynamic systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other.

First Law

Wikipedia says:
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.
In any process in an isolated system, the total energy remains the same.
For a thermodynamic cycle the net heat supplied to the system equals the net work done by the system.
From Einsteins famous formula, E=MC² we know that matter and energy are related, and one can be converted into another, so the First Law could easily be written as "Matter can neither be created nor destroyed". These are simplistically known as the ' law of  the conservation of energy' and 'law of the conservation of matter'.

Second Law.

This is the one creationists like to use as some kind of proof that the universe was created by god. They simplify the law grotesquely in order to pander to the minds of the scientifically illiterate. Here is a wikipedia summary of the law.

Consider two isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself (but not in equilibrium with each other). Then let some event break the isolation that separates the two systems, so that they become able to exchange matter or energy. Wait till the exchanging systems reach mutual thermodynamic equilibrium. Then the sum of the entropies of the initial two isolated systems is less than or equal to the entropy of the final exchanging systems. In the process of reaching a new thermodynamic equilibrium, entropy has increased (or at least has not decreased). Both matter and energy exchanges can contribute to the entropy increase.

Third Law

As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a constant minimum.

I think that will do for now, there is 8 more minutes of the video to go through, but that will do for now.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Uh uh uh. Think before you post, little DM. Stupid words won't get anyone anywhere. Good boy.

    *Fetch!*

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  3. I removed comment moderation, so i'll leave his comments there on the post, but remove the content, so people can see how much he spams me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohhh DM, hes a clever one!

    It is eternally funny to me how creationists and fundies can make such wild claims, then continue to not back them up with anything more than weak attempts at making it seem like the science agrees with them.

    Oh look! Impressive music! Fancy words! Scientists who were also religious! Creationism is a FACT!

    Because you know... since I said that, it makes it true.

    ReplyDelete