The Universe Operates According to Understandable Laws In essence, what this mea

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The Universe Operates According to Understandable Laws In essence, what this means is that there are rules by which the universe works: Stars produce heat and light according to the laws of nuclear phys- ics; nothing can go faster than the speed of light; all matter in the universe is ence ying es They also do not change depending on where you are. Go anywhere on the earth and perform the same experiment-you will get the same results (try not to hit any pedestrians or you will see some other "laws" in operation). This experiment was even performed by U.S. astronauts on the moon dur- ing the Apollo 15 mission. A hammer and a feather were dropped from the same height, and they hit the surface at precisely the same instant (the only reason this will not work on earth is because the feather is caught by the air and the hammer, obviously, is not). Check it out on YouTube at: http://www youtube.com /watch?v=5C5_dOEyAfk&feature;=youtube-gdata-player. We have no reason to believe that the results would be different anywhere or attracted to all other matter (the law of gravity) Though human societies are extremely complex systems and people do not operate according to rigid or unchanging rules of behavior, social scientists can nevertheless perceive patterns and regularities in how human groups react to changes in their environment and how their cultures evolve through time. For example, development of complex civilizations in Egypt, China, India/Pakistan, Mesopotamia, Mexico, and Peru was not based on random processes (Chang 2002; Demarest 2004; Diehl 2004; Headrick 2007; Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff 1995; Martin 2008). Their evolution seems to reflect similar general patterns. This is not to say that all of these civilizations were identical, any more than we would say that all stars are identical. O the contrary, they existed in different physical and cultural environments, and so we should expect that they would be different. However, in each case the rise to civilization was preceded by development of an agricultural economy and socially stratified societies. In each case, civilization was also preceded by some degree of overall population increase as well as increased population density in some areas (in other ies). Again, in each case we find monumental works (pyramids, temples), evidence of long-distance trade, and development of mathematics, astron- omy, and methods of record keeping (usually, but not always, in the form of writing). The cultures in which civilization developed, though some were unrelated and independent, shared these factors because of the nonrandom patterns of cultural evolution. else. If this assumption of science, that the laws do not change through time, were false, many of the so-called historical sciences, including prehistoric archaeology, could not exist. For example, historical geologists are interested in knowing how the various landforms we see today came into being. They recognize that they cannot go back in time to see how, for example, Bryce Canyon, in Utah was formed (Figure 2.6). However, because the laws of geology that governed the development of Bryce Canyon have not changed through time and because these laws are still in operation, historical geologists can study the formation of geological features today and apply what they learn to the past. The same laws they can directly study operating in the present were operating in the past when geological features that interest them first formed words, the development of cit- geologist Charles Lyell, the "pres- ent" we can observe is the "key" to understanding the past that we can- not. This is true because the laws, or rules, that govern the universe are constant-those that operate today operated in the past. This is why sci- ence does not limit itself to the present but makes inferences about the past and even predictions about the future (listen to the weather report for an example of this). We can do so because we can study modern, ongoing phe- nomena that work under the same laws that existed in the past and will exist in the future point is that everything operates according to rules. In science we understand stars, The believe that by understanding these rules or laws we can organisms, and even ourselves. The Laws Can Be Understood The Laws Are Immutable This may be the single most important principle in science. The universe is, theoretically at least, knowable. It may be complicated, and it may take many years to understand even apparently simple phenomena. Each attempt at understanding leads us to collect more data and to test, reevaluate, and refine our proposed explanations--for how planets formed; why a group of animals became extinct while another thrived; or how a group of ancient people responded to a change in their natural environment, contact with a group of foreigners, or adoption of a new technology. We rarely get it right the first time and are continually collecting new information, abandoning That the laws do not change under ordinary conditions is a crucial concept in science. A law that works here works there. A law that worked in the past will work today and will work in the future For example, if I go to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa today and the same time, just as simultaneously drop two balls of unequal mass, they will fall at the same rate and reach the ground at the same time, just as they did when Galileo performed a similar experiment in the seventeenth century. If I perform the same experiment countless times, the same thing will occur because the laws of the universe (in this case, the law of gravity) do not change through time

Explanation / Answer

The Universe Operates according to understandable laws

The author is trying to establish the fact of how things are operating in a normal civilisation. He tries to assert these facts by citing examples of the various civilisations across the world, and has tried to establish the fact that each and every civilisation has changed and evolved throughput the time. There has been a constant change with these civilisations, though these civilisations have not evolved in the exact same way. Each civilisation has their understandable and quoted and pre established laws, against which not many people go, and hence evolution has also occurred in the same line.

The laws are immutable

Here, as a continuation, the author is establishing the fact that many of the laws that have been pre established, are not really something which can be changed. For example the basic laws established by science, most of the present day instruments and ideals move through the same law systems. These laws only change when there is a major theory in response to these pre established theories, with evidences strong enough to Efteling the older ones. With this, the author has given an example of dropping two balls of unequal masses from the leaning tower of Pisa, and that would fall at the same time. The author tries to establish that such laws, are applicable everywhere, even on moon with a hammer and feather being dropped from the same height and that it hit the surface at the same time. This is evident not only at different places, but even at different times. The author says, as an example, that if with time the rules of geology had changed, it would have been very difficult to study historical monuments.

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