Recently, some friends on social media compared the theory of evolution to the theory of gravity, suggesting the evidence that  supported both was equally strong. The question was then posed by me: what evidence would be required before we might reasonably begin to question the theory of gravity? Can exceptions exist? The answer to my question seems rather obvious--if Newton's apple fell up toward the sky instead of down, for example, that would contradict the theory of gravity. We should begin to question the consistency of gravity if observations from multiple, credible witnesses claimed that objects or people either floated or flew in the air without using wires or other special effects to create a clever illusion. This "law" of gravity is easily testable: simply drop something from your hand, and it will fall to the ground. The evidence for gravity is so powerful that I can remember even as a young child (who still believed in Santa Claus) thinking the premise of the television show The Flying Nun was absolutely ridiculous...that because she only weighed 90 pounds and wore a cornette on her head, Sister Bertrille (Sally Field) would literally get blown off the ground by a strong wind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CojNHPD_cOU Frankly, the idea hasn't really improved with age--it's about as believable as Mr. Ed, the talking horse, but not half as funny. From where do such silly ideas come? As for The Flying Nun, the inspiration was a book called The Fifteenth Pelican. But from where might author Tere Rios have gotten the idea of writing a novel about a … [Read more...]