Challenge Thread: Were you wrong about Pluto?

[Ophiolite]

I'm looking for responses from those who were honestly wrong about something, and want to see if they're willing to admit it, and not just say they would.

No. I wasn't wrong. Pluto was the ninth planet. Now it is a dwarf planet. Pluto did not change, the classification system changed. Classification systems are artificial constructs designed to simplify discussion and analysis. As knowledge grows, as situations change, an existing classification system can prove cumbersome and require updating. So it was with Pluto.

I didn't create this thread to discuss Pluto; and I'm not going to.

Changing a classification system is not the same as changing detail of evolutionary theory.

Why are you so obsessed with Pluto anyway?

Dogged determination?

 

[Yttrium]

 

[dlamberth]

Pluto is part of our Solar System. The category science gives it in no way takes away it's family membership in our system. When in 2006 refining the description of what is a planet and what isn't Pluto no longer fit the classification of a planet. Thus Pluto is now classified as a "dwarf planet". The bottom line though is that Pluto is still out there, it hasn't gone away.

 

[Shemjaza]

This isn't about Pluto, per se.

Pluto is the best example I can come up with.

The definition of planet isn't a matter of learning something new, it's a matter of updating definitions so they are more useful.

I remember that some scientists thought that fruit bats might be closer related lemurs than to the blood/bug eating micro bats. They turned out to be wrong when genetic evidence indicating that both kinds of bats were closer to each other than to other types of animals.

Kirk: We ... we've been whiplashed back in time!
Spock: Affirmative, captain. The year is ... 1968.
Kirk: Look. Their records are showing Pluto as their ninth planet.
Spock: Apparently that is the extent of their technology so far.
KirK: But they're wrong.
Spock: Affirmative. But they don't know it yet.
Kirk: Someone should tell them.
Spock: Negative, captain. Remember our Prime Directive.
Kirk: Oh, yeah. Thanks.

Except that isn't a reasonable summary of the situation.

There isn't some kind of platonic definition of the word "planet", it's just that the definition that is now generally accepted by astronomers doesn't apply to Pluto anymore.

Anyway, it's still a dwarf planet, and as a bonus Ceres got upgraded to dwarf planet too as well as Pluto's compatriots in the outer Solar system.

The changing definition of planet is more akin to the change in both meaning and use of "thou" and "you".

 

[VirOptimus]

 

[bhillyard]

Reminds me of a question we said to each other at school:
"Are you a PLP?

If the answer was "Yes", response "So you're a public leaning post"
If "No", response "So you're not a proper living person"

AV1611VET's challenge strikes me as very similar.

 

[durangodawood]

Were you wrong about Pluto being our ninth planet?

I was right to go along with the best experts on a matter like this where I have no special knowledge myself.

 

[Bungle_Bear]

In another thread, someone made this comment:
If this is your sentiment as well, were you wrong about Pluto being our ninth planet?

Up to the middle ages was everyone wrong to consider the sun and moon as planets, but the Earth not a planet?

 

[AV1611VET]

Up to the middle ages was everyone wrong to consider the sun and moon as planets, but the Earth not a planet?

Yes.

Assuming you're meaning, "Was anyone wrong who considered the sun and moon ..."

 

[Bungle_Bear]

Yes.

Assuming you're meaning, "Was anyone wrong who considered the sun and moon ..."

Tell us, why were these people wrong? After all, the sun and moon were considered planets back then. The Earth wasn't.

 

[Norbert L]

In another thread, someone made this comment:
If this is your sentiment as well, were you wrong about Pluto being our ninth planet?

I was never aware there was something wrong about Pluto until some one else mentioned it.

 

[AV1611VET]

I was never aware there was something wrong about Pluto until some one else mentioned it.

That's science for you.

One day you think you're right -- the next you find out you've been wrong.

Then one day someone posts a poll and asks if they were willing to admit it, and guess what?

They aren't willing to admit it.

After all, it's what they were taught all along, so it's not their fault ... right?

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

That's science for you.

One day you think you're right -- the next you find out you've been wrong.

Then one day someone posts a poll and asks if they were willing to admit it, and guess what?

They aren't willing to admit it.

After all, it's what they were taught all along, so it's not their fault ... right?

Again: you are so extremely and strangely focused on Pluto, it is honestly worrying.

 

[AV1611VET]

Again: you are so extremely and strangely focused on Pluto, it is honestly worrying.

And again, I can't think of a better example than Pluto, since it had universal backing that it was our ninth planet.

And if it bothers you so much that I'm using Pluto, then give me a better example, and I'll start another challenge thread and use yours.

Just for you.

 

[Bungle_Bear]

That's science for you.

One day you think you're right -- the next you find out you've been wrong.

Then one day someone posts a poll and asks if they were willing to admit it, and guess what?

They aren't willing to admit it.

After all, it's what they were taught all along, so it's not their fault ... right?

You still haven't explained why those who lived before the middle ages were wrong to consider the sun and moon planets and the Earth not a planet.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

And again, I can't think of a better example than Pluto, since it had universal backing that it was our ninth planet.

And if it bothers you so much that I'm using Pluto, then give me a better example, and I'll start another challenge thread and use yours.

Just for you.

But why do you use Pluto though? Why do the astronomical classification of Pluto bother you to such a degree that you feel the vehement need to use it as something negative?

 

[AV1611VET]

You still haven't explained why those who lived before the middle ages were wrong to consider the sun and moon planets and the Earth not a planet.

Make your own challenge thread; instead of leaving it up to me all the time and having to listen to people harping about them.

 

[AV1611VET]

But why do you use Pluto though?

For the third time:

I ... can't ... think ... of ... a ... bet ... ter ... ex ... am ... ple ... since ... Plu ... to ... was ... u ... ni ... ver ... sal ... ly ... taught.

Why do the astronomical classification of Pluto bother you to such a degree that you feel the vehement need to use it as something negative?

Come up with a better example, and I'll use it on your behalf -- just for you.

mamma mia

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

For the third time:

I ... can't ... think ... of ... a ... bet ... ter ... ex ... am ... ple ... since ... Plu ... to ... was ... u ... ni ... ver ... sal ... ly ... taught.Come up with a better example, and I'll use it on your behalf -- just for you.

mamma mia

But I don't want to you use an example just for me, I want to know why you think that Pluto is such a good example. How does Pluto being classified differently affect you in such a way that you feel the need to it's reclassification as a sticking point against science?

 

[AV1611VET]

But I don't want to you use an example just for me, I want to know why you think that Pluto is such a good example. How does Pluto being classified differently affect you in such a way that you feel the need to it's reclassification as a sticking point against science?

-- Can't you put me on IGNORE or READ ONLY or something?