Monday, January 24, 2011
Science Mondays--- Catastrophs vs Gradualists
I am sure it seemed like it had to be one way or the other way to those who argued the point. Isn't that true to too many arguments. Back in the day I stepped directly into the feud between the direct instructors and the whole linguists. I emerged alive and somewhere in the middle. But that is another story.
This story takes us back to the time when scientists were beginning to see evidence that not every geological change emerged suddenly in gut wrenching catastrophic events. Others clung to all things catastrophic, so an us versus them battle ensued.
While much is gradual: river valleys, continental drift, sedimentation.
It is hard to say that the following are not catastrophic: volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts.
I am glad I am living in the day when more and more scientists and theologians are saying both happen. The Golden Mean strikes again.
and thus this week we transfer our attention away from the 99.999999999999999% of the universe which we do not call Earth. Glad to be home from space.
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I still have a string of beads threaded on a pipe-cleaner hanging on the mirror in my car, attained in a class a few years back where, at the age of sixty-something, I learned that the water-cycle is not necessarily always conducted in a continual cycle. Some of those molecules get "trapped" in the iciness of the North Pole, some remain contained within the depths of the ocean, etc. AS they say, one never gets too old to pick up some intelligent informtion....
ReplyDeleteJim--- thanks for the comment. it seems that things get more complicated the closer we look at it. I hope we both keep our desire to be filled with "intelligent info"
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