The Recent Organization 
of the Solar System
by Patten & Windsor  ©1995

FORWARD
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Patten Index
Main Page
Title Page
TOC
Forward
Preface
About Authors
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Bibliography

Foreward of A Physicist

Put on your thinking caps and hang on. It is an unfashionable road ahead. John Gleick in his book, "The Life of Science of Richard Feynman" records some unusual advice which Feynman gave to his students:

  • The chance is high that truth lies in the fashionable direction. But, on the off chance that it is in another direction... who will find it?... It will not do you harm whatever to think in an original fashion... It's very important that we do not all follow the same fashion. Because although it is ninety percent sure that the answer lies over there... what happens if it doesn't?
    •

    • Actually, Feynman's ninety percent chance of solutions being found in the conventional direction is much too high. The history of science shows that the greatest advances are generally achieved when the fashionable paradigm is overthrown.

    Patten and Windsor have certainly strayed from the conventional and fashionable road in Earth history. To many that automatically means they are wrong. That is unfortunate. Science is done by humans and their biases and hidden motives cause science to be flawed?almost fatally. In other words, the necessary open mind is rare. New ideas are often judged wrong before they can be subjected to scientific tests. In a double-barreled blast, John Anthony West has stated:

  • Trying to find an open-minded scientist is like trying to find a Fundamentalist Christian who loves his enemies.
    •

    • The unfashionable way will often have a few rough spots. I once thought that the only book I could agree with completely would be one written by myself. Having written a book, I now find that I do not even agree with it. I have been forced to change my mind in one instance because of additional evidence brought to my attention by a critical reader.

    You may find some ideas expressed herein with which you disagree. I, myself, disagree with one of the concepts presented by Patten and Windsor. It is the testing of ideas scientifically which leads to revisions and improvements in any theory.

    The hold of fashion over critical evidence is very pervasive. Let me illustrate. Dr. Herbert Ives stated over forty years ago that spectroscopic binary stars contradict the special theory of relativity by not exhibiting aberration as a function of the relative velocity. No one has contradicted Ives' claim.

    Yet, the special theory is still treated as fact rather than a refuted theory. The willingness to change one's mind as a response to valid criticism is essential. Patten and Windsor have exhibited that willingness to change when scientific criticism is presented to them. I applaud them.

    Please read this book with an open mind. The willingness to consider "unusual" ideas is essential---especially when those ideas are in accord with the external observations.

     

    Ronald R. Hatch, M.S.

    Physicist

    Author, Escape From Einstein

     

    The Recent Organization of The Solar System  by Patten & Windsor
    <http://www.creationism.org/patten/PattenRecOrgSolSys/>


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