XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: fwbrown@bellsouth.net   
      
   In alt.fan.tolkien Lewis  wrote:   
   >   
   > Recently, the Higgs-Boson was a theory. It seemed likely that it   
   > existed, but there was a definite chance it didn't. It would have turned   
   > quantum mechanics on its head if it didn't exist, but it had not been   
   > proven to exist, so it was *not* a fact, not until it was shown to   
   > actually exist.   
      
   This is where we have a fundamental disagreement.  I say that the   
   existence of the Higgs boson *was* a fact, and *always has been* a fact;   
   we just didn't know it until recently.   
      
   Throughout most of human history no one suspected there was such a   
   thing as quantum tunnelling.  During most of our history no one had the   
   knowledge required even to understand the concept.  We've known about   
   quantum tunnelling for less than a hundred years.  Yet it is now known   
   to have serious implications for the design of electronic devices and is   
   probably involved in ageing and cancer.  Quantum tunnelling has always   
   been a fact but we never knew or even suspected anything about it until   
   fairly recently.   
      
   I don't believe unicorns exist, and that belief is based on there being   
   no evidence for them.  But I don't *know* absolutely, positively, that   
   they don't exist, because like the Higgs boson or quantum tunnelling,   
   their existence could be a fact we just don't know about yet.  You say   
   that no evidence for something means it doesn't exist; I say it means   
   existence is unlikely but we don't really *know* if it exists or not.   
      
   --   
   F. Wayne Brown    
      
   Þæs ofereode, ðisses swa mæg.  ("That passed away, this also can.")   
      from "Deor," in the Exeter Book (folios 100r-100v)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)