When Readers Comment (1/22/08)

kevin had this to say on my post about cosmologists speculating that floating brains could appear in empty space:

A good scientific principle: if you theory yields results that are patently ridiculous...

I disagree with the way you wrote this. "patently rediculous" according to what standard? The creationists would say that us evolving from monkeys is "patently rediculous". And I'd say that quantum mechanics is too -- it is an affront to common sense.

So drop that first clause:

A good scientific principle: if your theory yields results that are in clear contradiction with the observable universe, the problem is with your theory, not with the universe.

Point taken. Quantum physics is rarely ever intuitive -- at least not to me it isn't -- so a philosophical pragmatist approach is often appropriate. I retract the "patently ridiculous" part.