The Pope asked Galileo to write a book about the Copernican model. In the book, Galileo created a character named Simplicius, who opposed the Copernican model (Section 1-9). This was viewed as disrespectful (simpleton). Galileo was then placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. In contrast, Gassendi was careful not to offend people. Do you think that Galileo would have been more successful if he had exercised discretion? What can we learn about being an influencer from the story of Galileo and Gassendi?
Boyle thought that all of his theories should be confirmed by experiments. He was distrustful of his own reasoning and was careful not to construct his experiments to simply confirm his philosophy. What can we learn from Boyle about letting the facts guide our beliefs. What would Carl Sagan think about this approach?
What current scientific theory or argument might be similar to the 19th century theory that atoms could not be divided? This is a theory that people adamantly believe but might be disproven by additional information.
What do you think about the fact that quarks move at 1/3 the speed of light inside of a proton? Does it make you feel any less stable?
Does the precision of fine tuning of fundamental forces indicate fine tuning of the universe for life? What if the forces were significantly different. Could another type of life exist?
Discuss the main roadblock for matter formation scenarios, which is that matter and antimatter should have destroyed each other. Discuss whether the cause of the initial formation of matter was most likely God (miracle), a fine-tuned matter formation scenario (unlikely) such as leptogenesis, or a more likely matter formation scenario, such as supersymmetry.
If it was OK for Carl Sagan to disprove religion based on science, is it also OK to prove religion based on science?