about truth
earth's equator at a distance of about 22,300 miles. At that altitude, the "satellite" would maintain a stationary position over the earth, by maintaining an orbital speed of approximately 6000 miles per hour.
Of course this was mere speculation, and by a science fiction writer, of all things. It could not be proved, of course, at least not for a few more years.
Proof is Ubiquitous
TOP
It is almost impossible to believe anyone could doubt that proof is not only possible, but one of the most common things in the world. Almost everything about modern life is proof of some scientific or mathematical hypothesis or discovery.
Every electronic device or machine we use which is powered by electricity from the power grid, as well as, the power grid itself is proof Michael Faraday was not the charlatan his contemporaries accused him of being when he announced he could generate an electric current simply by moving a magnet in a coil of wire.
Every time we listen to the radio or watch television we prove once again that wireless communication is possible, despite the resistance Nikola Tesla, Guglielmo Marconi, and others faced when first promoting it.
If you ever have to have surgery, you can be thankful the horrors that always tormented patients with pain so excruciating it frequently killed them or left them insane is no longer true, because it has been proved, painless surgery is possible.
But Can You Prove there is Proof?
TOP
No, no one can prove it to anyone who would ask that question. When someone asks this kind of question, what they really mean is, "can you convince me there is proof." That kind of proof does not exist.4
The purpose of proof is not to convince others, but to ensure that one's own reasoning and conclusions are correct. If proof depended on convincing others, the few examples we have provided demonstrate almost nothing would ever have been proved.
The Wright brothers proved the possibility of powered human flight almost five years before they could convince anyone else it had been proved. Robert Goddard5, whose experiments proved the principles of gyroscopically controlled rocketry he said would one day take men to the moon, was all but ignored, except by the Germans who used the principles to design V2 rockets. Most people were not convinced until men had actually walked on the moon some 30 years later.
The reluctance to accept the claims of just anyone about a new invention or discovered principle of nature, especially without proof or enough evidence to warrant further investigation is a good thing. This kind of resistance to new claims is sound skepticism. What is not sound skepticism, is rejecting a thing without examining the evidence or without even knowing what the argument is. This false skepticism is an assertion that something is true (that what is being rejected is false) without proof or evidence. It is another variety of, "well nothing can be proved anyway."
The Price of Infamy
TOP
How did the idea of proof ever fall into such disrepute that [next page]