Nuggets of History: The Galileo Affair

"The church hates science and always has!"

This is a common objection people usually raise when religious organizations like the Catholic Church make pronouncements on things that involve anything slightly related to science like evolution or life on other planets.

People are then quick to point out the Galileo affair and how the ignorant church persecuted Galileo for even proposing that the Earth is the center of the solar system. This, however, is a twisting of the facts which involved Galileo and the Catholic Church.

In the common telling of the tale, Galileo first proposed the heliocentric view (where the Earth revolves around the sun) to the church. The church, which then still held on to the geocentric view of the solar system saw this as going against Church teaching. The church then tried to force Galileo to recant his view and when he didn't was tried by the church, found guilty of heresy and imprisoned until he died. Galileo is often called a martyr of science as he was persecuted for his beliefs. The story goes on to tell of how this is how religion and science became two forces which cannot agree with each other.

This is a total myth. This myth was first mentioned 

The true story is more interesting as it was essentially the story of two men who got into a squabble which only escalated in the same way a fight between children usually escalates.

Here's the real story. While the Church did hold to the geocentric model, what most storytellers fail to mention is that everyone, including all leading scientists during that time, held to the geocentric model. As it was the status quo at the time, any competing theory about how the celestial bodies are arranged in space would have to have more explanatory power than the standing theory. It would have to explain everything we already knew up to that point in time that was explained sufficiently by the previous model - and more! Such is the case with any scientific inquiry.

As it so happened, Galileo was not the first person to introduce the heliocentric model. It was Nicolaus Copernicus. He first proposed the model but could not prove it. His model was able to account for the movements of the planets better than the geocentric model but it couldn't explain the tides. As such, the heliocentric model was a competing theory but with lacking explanatory power, that's the most it could ever be at that point in time.

Galileo, at the time thought (correctly, I might add) that the heliocentric model was the correct model for the solar system. Just as Copernicus before him couldn't explain the problems his model posed, Galileo couldn't explain them sufficiently as well. Galileo was working with a group of Jesuits (Catholic priests) to work out the kinks in his model when he wanted to teach as fact the heliocentric model.

Notice that his model, although correct, still had a lot of inaccuracies and so the church was hesitant to give him the go signal for this. Pope Urban VIII, who was a friend of Galileo's decided on a compromise. Galileo could write defending the heliocentric model as long as he cited its problems and that he should also do the same with the geocentric model. Galileo agreed and soon published his work on this entitled Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. And this is where the story hits a very interesting historical point.

Galileo's work involved a conversation between three main characters - Salviati, Sagredo, and Simplicio. Simplicio's character is portrayed as an intellectually inept fool. What Pope Urban VIII saw, however, was his own words being put in the mouth of the fool, Simplicio. For even more context, the Catholic Church at this time did not want to make any definitive statements especially in the field of science as just a century prior, the Reformation occurred in Europe and any false proclamation could be used against the Catholic Church.

It's for these reasons that Galileo was arrested and put on trial. He was eventually found guilty to be "vehemently suspect of heresy," which just means, "preaching things he has no proof for." To be fair, Galileo didn't have proof for his theory. Even the scientific community wasn't convinced by his explanations. Remember that during this time, the geocentric model was the status quo and the heliocentric model was only an alternative model.

For his punishment, Galileo was put under house arrest until he died. While it sounds gruesome, it should be noted that he could leave anytime. He was even provided a chauffeur and could be visited anytime. It was during his house arrest where Galileo was able to further work on the heliocentric model with the help again of the Jesuits.

So the story of Galileo was simply one of one man insulting another and being put on house arrest for it. It had little to do with his actual views on heliocentrism. It was a story of a man who pushed too hard something he could not prove.

Time to lose the belly

Our wedding is coming up in three months and together with the other preparations for the wedding, I'd also decided to do what every other groom thinks of a few months before their wedding - to lose the gut.

Back in August 2019, my gym membership expired and I decided I wouldn't renew it as it would be way more costly for me and I didn't see any results after they changed the schedule of the class that did have an effect on my body. When people say classes in gym, it's usually dance (hip-hop, zumba, or sexy dance) or some sort of yoga or pilates. The class that I enjoyed going to was high intensity interval training or HIIT.

HIIT was enjoyable for me as it kept me moving and doing things like lifting weights or working the ropes or something like that. I don't enjoy the other classes at all as my body doesn't have any sense of rhythm. This is the same reason I cannot get into boxing. The rhythm of the movements just throws me off.

HIIT is perfect for me in that is has me doing box jumps or burpees or push ups in quick succession - things that don't require rhythm to perform. So when Fitness Nation changed the schedule of HIIT to an earlier time slot, which I couldn't make anymore, I was left with a hole in my fitness routine.

I decided to join another badminton group which plays every Monday which brought my badminton exercises from 2 times a week to 3. I already enjoy the game so I need not justify the shift. I was having more fun but I was seeing less results in my body. I told myself I needed something different for the new year and I chanced upon Epic Fitness in Oakridge.

When I saw that they offer HIIT, I didn't have to think twice about it. It was Epic for me. I scheduled a trial session and enjoyed it. To be honest, I didn't enjoy it as much as the HIIT classes in Fitness Nation (which were done in groups) but I was willing to stick it out. After enrolling and on my third session, the exercises started being more difficult and I knew I didn't make a bad choice.

After my third session, my body knew it had done a great workout. Everytime I go to Epic, the gym has very few people in it. I go at around 7:30pm and they close at 9pm. My sessions usually last anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. And since there's always a gym instructor on stand by, I feel like I have a personal trainer with me all the time.

Personal trainers in gyms can be very expensive so having one at Epic for the price I pay, I felt like I got my deal at a steal! I would like to make a special mention to Edward, my coach as he has made me feel very welcome every time I go. The other coaches I see at Epic are all very friendly and Edward is probably the shyest of the bunch but I like his vibe. Considering that he's the newest member of their staff, you could say I'm impressed.

I've never been more confident than now that I will finally be able to remove my belly before the wedding. All I need to do is keep up what I'm doing right now.

Infer the Question

New Fake News Tactic Found!

I noticed this twice in the past few weeks and only decided to write about it now. The first time I noticed this was when someone decided to put side by side quotes taken from the two candidates who were up for the position of Chancellor of UP Diliman - Dr. Nemenzo and Prof. Manegdeg. Of the two, Dr. Nemenzo is more friendly to the activists of the UP community.

Dr. Nemenzo's quote was about his plans for the UP Diliman community and how he would lead it to the future. Prof. Manegdeg's quote, however, just him saying that former Chancellor Michael Tan might want to rest after being Chancellor of UP Diliman. Make no mistake, I like that Dr. Nemenzo got the Chancellorship but this news bit didn't present either one of them fairly.

This is when I thought to "infer the question". What question was asked of each candidate which would've warranted the answer or the quote given. Of course, when you ask a candidate about their plans, they will give a more substantial answer than if they would be asked about the previous Chancellor. Add that to the fact that Prof. Manegdeg didn't play nice with former Chancellor Michael Tan and you can see why his comments would be very shallow.

The news bit seemed to imply that it was clear who should be chancellor based on these quotes. Prof. Manegdeg has other flaws which are why he shouldn't be chancellor but highlighting a quote taken way out of context is not how you do it. To their credit, the Engineering Student Council came out with a statement which highlighted the flaws of Prof. Manegdeg in a fair manner.

More recently, we have news outlets reporting that President Duterte connected the shortage of face masks to the outbreak of the corona virus. He was quoted as saying that if there was no outbreak, there would be no shortage of face masks. The implication of the news outlets was that this was President Duterte's do-nothing response to the shortage of face masks.

When I try to infer what kind of question was asked, I can see what kind of question was posed to get this kind of response. If the question was "why?" then the answer of the president makes sense and doesn't mean the government won't do anything about it. If the question was "what will we don about it?" then the response is indeed one of complacency. Given the news articles now which say Duterte was going to find a way to procure more face masks, I think it's safe to say the question posed was a "why" question.

This is a common tactic which I just recently identified. It's taking a quote out of context and making it say what you want the person saying it to say. When one infers what kind of question was asked, you get a fuller idea of the context and get a better idea of the character of the person saying the quote.

Panic over the Corona Virus

I'm no medical expert so I won't claim to know how the virus spreads or its incubation period. I won't claim to know what asymptomatic means - I've asked my doctor friends but I still don't get how people know something is wrong when they're asymptomatic. But the point is in the absence of personal knowledge of these things, I go with what the experts say on the issue.

A vast majority of posts on my Facebook feed about the corona virus are either people saying we're not doing enough or news outlets publishing stories that incite fear in their readers. As I'm writing this, the Inquirer posted a news article about Chinese Tourists visiting Boracay despite the travel ban from China. (see link to article below)

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1224860/chinese-tourists-visit-boracay-despite-ban

It's these types of news articles that try to sow fear where it's not warranted. Remember that the travel ban only took effect just last February 2 meaning it's quite possible that Chinese tourists that arrived before date are still in the country to this day. The article would've served the people better if it was said definitively that these Chinese tourists arrived AFTER the ban was imposed. The article is silent on the matter and I can only assume that due diligence was not exercised to check this fact.

So should we just relax and wait for everything to resolve itself? Of course not. At least that's not what the experts are saying. Track the progress of the virus. Inform yourself of the confirmed cases. Wash your hands often especially after touching surfaces. Bring around alcohol as that too can kill the virus before it can spread to other people.

Clickbait-y headlines are everywhere. They want to bloat the numbers are much as they can to get more clicks and thus become more relevant. Another recent article I saw stressed how many people were suspected to be infected with virus there were in the Philippines. While it's true that there are people under investigation, (PUIs) they are nowhere near being a confirmed case. So far, in the Philippines, we have 3 confirmed cases but way way more PUIs who where later cleared.

The Corona virus is new and there is reason for us to be wary. But to spread fear and misinformation or to constantly complain all the time - these will not fix anything. We are always served by truth even when they're inconvenient or against our own personal beliefs.

And from the best data we have so far, this corona virus is NOT as deadly as the media has painted it out to be. People are more justified in being more fearful of dengue and tuberculosis. The current mortality rate is at around 2% which (from my understanding) means that 98% of the time, you will recover from it.

From what I notice, the most panicked people online are the keyboard activists. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals approach this issue more calmly. Let's take a page from their book and be more calm. Let's pray for the end of this episode. We can also do our part by doing all the precautions recommended by the DOH.