Observational Evidence for the...

[AndromedasWake]

Hello LoR community! What's goin' awn?

I'm scheming about an upcoming video (yes, you might get two this year :shock entitled 'Observational Evidence for the Big Bang Theory'. Hopefully this ambiguous title will not undermine the secrecy surrounding its content.

When I began putting this together, it got me thinking: wouldn't it be great if we had a bunch of 'Observational Evidence for the...' videos in one place?

What I'd like to do is create a playlist of brand new, up-to-date videos which provide (in a non-confrontational but interesting way) the major established facts which support a given theory - preferably the unequivocally supporting facts, which cannot be reconciled as completely with any competing model.

When I post the video (it should be around December once the effects of productivity-dilation have been factored in) I'd like to put up a whole bunch of annotations at the end, which link to a bunch of others, all with the same totally conformist title: Observational Evidence for the [insert theory] Theory.

Who would opt in to produce a video about their favourite or most familiar scientific theory? The playlist could end up being a really solid few hours of referential material for those seeking to understand the scientific consensus at a very broad level, presented in a whole bunch of different styles by different people.

Thoughts?

EDIT: On reflection, I think I'd suggest (impose?) the following guidelines to introduce an element of consistency:

• * Video format is spoken word over visual aides, such as images and video, non-copyright or owned music optional.
  * Videos should be between 8-10 minutes long
  * Each video will have an annotation linking to the full playlist, which I will update as vids are added
  * Consensus theories welcome; ATM is not the focus of this project
  * Established facts should be numbered, and each video should include an intro explaining how said theory is a scientific theory, science is based on evidence, here are the major lines of evidence supporting said theory...
  * Videos would preferably include the LoR logo at the beginning or end, with a link back to this thread in the description (I could put up a standard copy pasta paragraph on this)

 

[Rumraket]

I have a quick question: When you say "observational evidence for the big bang theory", what is actually understood by "bing bang theory" ?
I suppose you are talking about the observational evidenced that tells us that, at some point about 13,7 billion years in the past, the universe was much much smaller, hotter and denser and has been expanding ever since?

I ask this, because I often get confused about what someone means with "the big bang theory". Some people seem to think that it means that we know there was an absolute beginning to time and space, which I have come to understand that we do, in fact, not. One could try to extrapolate back to such a supposed event, but we still actually don't have any evidence for such an absolute beginning, correct?

With that question out of the way, a video I would like to see is "The observational evidence that we and all other living organisms living on(and including) the earth, is made of ejected starstuff from ancient supernovae explosions". I'm sure the title could be made shorter

Or, "The observational evidence for the theory of the formation of the earth" - which I guess is sort of related to my first video suggestion

 

[AndromedasWake]

I have a quick question: When you say "observational evidence for the big bang theory", what is actually understood by "bing bang theory" ?
I suppose you are talking about the observational evidenced that tells us that, at some point about 13,7 billion years in the past, the universe was much much smaller, hotter and denser and has been expanding ever since?

I ask this, because I often get confused about what someone means with "the big bang theory". Some people seem to think that it means that we know there was an absolute beginning to time and space, which I have come to understand that we do, in fact, not. One could try to extrapolate back to such a supposed event, but we still actually don't have any evidence for such an absolute beginning, correct?

Precisely. The opening line in the script so far is "The Big Bang Theory is a scientific theory that describes the physical evolution of the Universe from a hot, dense state to the one we see today."

There is some debate about whether cosmogenesis is within the scope of the BBT, but it's safer to leave it out for the purposes of bringing someone up to speed with established cosmology. Cosmogony is based on almost exclusively speculative or otherwise non-standard physics.

With that question out of the way, a video I would like to see is "The observational evidence that we and all other living organisms living on(and including) the earth, is made of ejected starstuff from ancient supernovae explosions". I'm sure the title could be made shorter

Or, "The observational evidence for the theory of the formation of the earth" - which I guess is sort of related to my first video suggestion

Quick, someone call a person who knows about that stuff! :mrgreen:

 

[Inferno]

Good to know you're busy, but IMHO that might be quite hard to do. In many cases you'd first have to explain the whole theory and why a certain piece of evidence fits this theory.

For example, it might take me a whole video to explain why vestigial structures fit the Theory of Evolution, or why findings in Evo-Devo do too. You'd need a whole playlist for every single theory.

What do you mean by "ATM" btw? * Consensus theories welcome; ATM is not the focus of this project

I'd gladly produce videos on ToE, I've got enough time on my hands right now. Cooperation anyone?

 

[AndromedasWake]

Good to know you're busy, but IMHO that might be quite hard to do. In many cases you'd first have to explain the whole theory and why a certain piece of evidence fits this theory.

For example, it might take me a whole video to explain why vestigial structures fit the Theory of Evolution, or why findings in Evo-Devo do too. You'd need a whole playlist for every single theory.

I think this is a non-issue if the communication is handled well. It is fair to assume that the viewer has a basic grasp on what the theory states, and is visiting the video just to discover the major veins of knowledge that support it. In each case, the fact can be related to the theory, and I reckon a concise script could get through one big fact per minute if it's done well.

What do you mean by "ATM" btw? * Consensus theories welcome; ATM is not the focus of this project

Against the mainstream.

 

[Inferno]

I think this is a non-issue if the communication is handled well. It is fair to assume that the viewer has a basic grasp on what the theory states, and is visiting the video just to discover the major veins of knowledge that support it. In each case, the fact can be related to the theory, and I reckon a concise script could get through one big fact per minute if it's done well.

If you talk as fast as Aron, maybe. :lol:
Seriously though, those would be some very jammed together videos with a lot of facts in a short time but you only skimm the surface as far as the theory goes. Just look at DonExpodus2's video about "Noah's Ark and the Cheetah".



He's considered one of the better YouTubers and it still takes him more than 7 minutes to explain how a bottle-neck in the Cheetah population relates to ToE and how Noah's Ark couldn't have happened. I'd say that it would take a lot of work, more than you'd normally need. What I mean by that is that I could easily make ten or more videos explaining each fact in detail and I'd have an easier time than squashing it all together, simply because cutting away the non-essential bits is often very hard. (My dad writes speeches for politicians, he can sing a song about "cutting away the non-essential bits".)

If you'd agree to multiple videos about one theory (Observational Evidence for the Theory of Evolution Part X, for example) I'd be much more happy to oblidge.



EDIT: Forgot one thing. It might be interesting to do each Theory in three (3) parts for one reason: A Theory requires three parts. Evidence and congruency with other theories, the ability to predict in accordance with the theory and falsifiability. Part one could explain the evidence, part two the predictions and part three could be a list of what would falsify the theory.

 

[AndromedasWake]

I'm going to challenge myself to make the BBT one as a template, without running into two videos. Others could then determine if more (or even less?) detail is actually needed for the video to make its points.

Although the Theory of Evolution is complex and far-reaching, it is still enough, I propose, to give one minute rough guides to things like retroviruses, embryology, geological column, fossil record etc.

Once again, hopefully my video will give some idea of the level of detail that is actually appropriate to make the video informative, without being so heavy as to demand a massive investment of time and comprehension on the part of the viewer.

 

[nasher168]

I like this idea... talking with visual aid is the kind of thing I like to make (although I only have one video I'm actually proud of below my belt). I don't know what theory I would do, although despite being a biologist at heart I do quite enjoy the simplicity and elegance of the Young's slits experiment. So the wave-particle duality of light might be a possibility. Although it would only be to A-level standard, since I haven't and don't intend to take physics further than that.

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

I can contribute a bit with my expertise, but I don't do production. My sound system is crap which prevents me to narrate anything.

 

[WarK]

Long time ago DonExodus made a series on definitive evidence in support of evolution. Although it was in 4 parts, I think it still was quite concise and also included some rebuttals to creationsit's arguments, which I don't think is required for this series (or is it? perhaps this could be another series of vids Creationist's (counter)arguments for <insert theroy name> debunked?... wait, this has a familiar ring to it... CrAP debunked? )

Here is the first vid in the DonExodus' series, maybe someone will find it useful.
link

ps. I linked the vid instead of using embedded player because I wasn't sure if this thread should stay free of vids that aren't part of the series

 

[Zoten001]

I've been thinking about doing this kind of thing (a sort of Idiot's guide to science) for a while, only problem I'm not versed byond an american High School education on any of the topics I want to cover, and there are many I'd like to cover.

 

[Pulsar]

On a related note, it would be great to make a video about FAQs and misconceptions about the Big Bang Theory. Things like: "why is the radius of the observable universe 46 billion ly?" Or "how can galaxies recede faster than the speed of light?"

I often use this excellent paper in discussions: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/DavisLineweaver04.pdf.
For non-astronomers, there's also a non-technical version: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/download/tamarad/papers/SciAm_BigBang.pdf
And Ned Wrights FAQs are also very useful: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmology_faq.html

Perhaps it's a good idea to use this material for a video. I can contribute with my expertise, but I don't have the time nor the means to create videos myself.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

Get This Was a Triumph to write theme music.

 

[Aught3]

I don't own a TV.

 

[Dean]

Get This Was a Triumph to write theme music.

Great. It's a pity he doesn't seem to be active in this forum anymore.

 

[AndromedasWake]

...which I don't think is required for this series (or is it?...

No. The goal is to be non-confrontational. The videos are not intended to be refutations, or in any way defensive.

 

[AndromedasWake]

To those who want to contribute but are not sure how or do not dabble in production, why not team up with someone?

You can have a researcher, writer, presenter and narrator (this is how real television is made after all )

 

[Inferno]

I'd gladly team up with someone to take on ToE. PM me if you want me to help out.

 

[Andiferous]

I don't own a TV.

I have one - just haven't used it in a couple years or so.

 

[Laurens]

I'm guessing a lot of people would want to talk about evolution, so perhaps we could break up certain topics into things like.

Observational Evidence for the theory of Evolution: DNA
Observational Evidence for the theory of Evolution: Distribution of species
Observational Evidence for the theory of Evolution: Atavisms and Vestiges

and so on...