Here we see that Newton led by his powerful intellect refused to accept that the Aether was a primary concern... at least publicly... what was of concern to him was the incorporation of the known experimental data rather than rote acceptance of a scientific tradition which had a deference to an existing philosophy of Aristotle. The problem "of what Gravity is" remains a question to this very day and I can confidently say that humans have not arrived at a full comprehension for it's resolution yet. This problem of the origin of gravity still worried Newton... as it should have... It still worries us to this very day. I have my theories and so do many others on this forum, what I am convinced of is the status quo is not a convincing answer to this problem. People who defend the status quo take an easy course of action and this leads to a "mob mentality" demonstrated on this Forum at times. There is nothing to be gained from it.

I tend to Einstein's view more than any other single view but it is not enough. I have a great deal of respect for his Special Theory of Relativity but I think the General Theory of Relativity is not as compelling. As Einstein searched for a Unified Field Theory in his later years we should all be searching for the same resolution based on the existing current experimental data. Not a mindless following of his technique but clearly his methods were IMHO the best of their kind and capable of possible success. Because nobody believed him in his life's work at the scientific level and because of his public status as a celebrity he was thwarted. I note this is not the consensus opinion of much of the Scientific Community today where Loop Quantum Gravity, various Quantum Gravity and String Theory schemes all fail miserably in a basic test of answering the right experimental questions. Sloppy "questions" and poor intellectual analysis leads to chaos in interpretation of science and what we have today is an elite led "magic act" with Mathematicians in the guise of Physicists as professionally paid "Sorcerers". Many of them are mostly in direct disagreement with current experimental science, yet these mathematical theoreticians spend many non-productive years persisting with such hubris and at the same time poking fun and ridiculing others with dissimilar notions.

This could well be a useful instruction to men and women of science today. Too many "lesser minds" have driven the debate "every which way but loose" and they have all forgotten that a consensus is not necessarily required for scientific Truth if that "consensus" is in opposition to the experimental facts. Science decided by committee is not science but politics. Everyone knows committees either in government, scientific forums or in your local church halls never pick "what is right" but always decide on the lowest common denominator which represents the collective ego's of all the "feeble minds" drawn there that pick on the most mutually politically advantageous and economically prosperous outcome. Science is of secondary concern. In science this is the "shut up and calculate" method of silencing all the naysayers... the tall poppy syndrome. The reasons provided by these individuals in their ivory towers is that only they and their committees have any access to truth and all other "voices" should be relegated to to the role of simple "calculators". I remind everyone of Newton's "humble beginnings"... Well the word is out... calculators are a couple of bucks each available from a corner store... What is now the purpose of all these Physicists? The Internet is replete with "calculators" for almost any problem you can think of. How did so few physicists become such great authorities in a debate which is not yet decided publicly? Why is Mathematics placed in such high esteem if the physics is almost ignored? Do all these new age mathematicians all graduate with Philosophy or Theology Degrees? It appears clear to me that religion and politics have had controlling input into this debate to the extent that men's minds are clouded by their own hubris and it is no longer Newton alone that is being driven mad but the entire human race. What do people want... a relative uneasy truth or an outright lie? It appears "the lie" is what is required and ridicule is the way to maintain it. Yet I hold that only logic and science tempered by the results of careful experiment can solve this impasse through addressing the physical Universe directly. This means that "Physicists" need to wire a few things up in the Lab to see that the Universe actually works and it is not a "construct" of their over fertilized minds. The secrets that the Universe still holds will only yield by asking the most deeply penetrating questions "at a workbench". Theories that hide their origins below the Planck Length are "Religions" and not the result of an "Experimental Science".

The basis of Principia's exposition is not as well founded as is with Einstein's Theories today. To me Special Relativity at least is as simple if not simpler than any other "modern" theory that can be taught. But I see a terrible "stuff up" in the teaching profession and with academia in trying to pass these ideas on to students. I am convinced they are not so much interested in the understanding being "transferred" but in the "due process" and "formality" showing how cleverly the ideas can be put in an inscrutable way to the unwashed. Publishing these results is also "covert" in the way that the Journals do not openly make their information available to all. The scientists secretly agree to keep all this "in house" because more people may actually see what rubbish is being passed off as scholarly research. The public will finally realize that this "stuff" is simply churned out and put on a scales to evaluate the output of a lifetime. As far as I am concerned one paper such as Einstein's Special Theory or Newton's Principia is enough to credit a useful life. IMHO quantity does not displace quality. I would remind all that Einstein's Revolutionary Paper on Special Relativity was not a scholarly work in Mathematics. In fact he did not "discover" anything of any mathematical consequence at all. His paper was about "Physics".

Newton did not have any significant data to work with that could be relied on. This is not his fault. For instance he assumed the speed of light was 210 thousand K/s and using the measurements available in the middle of the 17th Century it could well have been since many science authorities still felt that the speed of light may be infinite. A lot of other data were in error but just such margins. I am pretty sure that given the additional data from experiment available to everyone today, better computing instruments, and given good health and the lack of distraction of concerns of an alchemical nature, he would certainly have arrived at most of the Physics we hold as true and significantly improved on it. Not only that he was of exceedingly humble origins... his parents were feudal farmers whose duty was to fight for the king... A little above a serf. When he said things in Science people listened and they did that only because he was usually right. Among all things Newton was a great believer in experimental physics... He could not claim the King's authority, he was of humble birth. This is where modern theorists fail by thinking "far too small and conservatively" with an eye to their stipends, tenure and position in the "pecking order". In that respect I agree with Zarkov while disagreeing with his evaluation of the works of Einstein (whom I hold in the very highest regard). This is not to say that Einstein was right in everything but I think Einstein was right in many things we no longer give him any credit for. In the same way Newton was also such a person... a man of his times.

Newton was also the first to espouse and publish a concept which every scientist should now aspire... "I feign no hypotheses" which is a departure from the Aristotelian concept of natural philosophy. This is not what modern science is about any more. What Newton was trying to say is make sure your theory is experimentally correct before worrying about how it fits with the classicists and other previous authorities. We have Occam's Razor which states that among an equally provable theories the simplest theory is usually the correct one. Unfortunately the human mind is not capable of knowing "all" possible equally acceptable and provable theories and because of hubris will not accept that other theories are of equal standing can only comprehend the simplest one that they know as being the best.

This concept was put recently by Micheu Kaku regarding Einstein's General Theory of Relativity being made into a "slogan" and placed on the front of T-shirts because of it's "intrinsic beauty". My view is this is a pretty stupid idea because there is no reason to accept that this theory in it's "simple" form has the ability to solve any realistic problems at all. It is of greater Mathematical Interest as an icon than it is of Scientific Interest simply because it is only "beautiful". I disagree... what is "beautiful" must be in the eye of the beholder and what the Universe "does" is beautiful and simpler than any Tensor Field theory equation "emblazoned" on the front of an "unthinking" mathematician's chest. You may as well throw in a couple of verses from the bible as well ... only the short quotes qualify... sound bytes. I can think of some Communist and Commercial advertising slogans which are more popular why not put them there too as many do. Better still... tattoo them on your forehead.

It is not that Newton was "wrong" in anything he had said but according to the limited science of the time he was "dead on target". Yet most of the society of his time did not take his hubris too well. They criticized him for his lack of diligence and deference to authorities that had come before. The relationship between Halley and Newton is a model of scientific behavior but the relationship between Hooke and Newton show also to what depths of hatred and spite great minds can fall into to. Another "bad report" of Newton regards Leibniz and his comparable but separate discovery of Calculus, Newton did not attempt to see and recognize the works of others and this may be due in part to Newton's reported Autism and lack of people skills or perhaps in later life his growing religious fervor and "madness". It is well to understand that that it is important to give due recognition of all those who have assisted and helped in all respects or have strived alone... Otherwise hubris can overcome the solitary mind and lead into madness and error. Everyone understands that Newton's Laws have some shortcomings but they are able to be remedied. All subsequent developments including Einstein's Theories and Quantum Mechanics are based on the insight that Newton provided to many previous generations of scientists and have been refined "marginally" since his day. Einstein is a true Genius and my favorite among all scientists but Newton was the greatest because his insights took us from the "Stone Age" of "tinkering" with science and experiments to a world of "Order" in which a way could be seen forward. As a person he was "aloof", distant and dismissive... not a nice person... but who really cares. We need to look past those limitations. His was the "stepping stone" of history that launched the "Enlightenment" that gave rise to the very minds that eventually signed the Declaration of Independence and in which the rights of all men were made sovereign (not just in America) and consequently led to the questioning of the enslavement others (everywhere). It had nothing much at all to do with the churches or good government, in fact it was a breakdown in government and church authority that precipitated it. Newton's legacy cannot be underestimated or delimited and it exceeded two thousand years and more of religious and political fervor and persecution supplanting them with free minds and opportunity that still echoes to this day... But one single stupid generation can take that all away. Newton probably never thought for a moment what he had started and relentlessly initiated .... he lit the fuse that would destroy the past and prepare us for a new tomorrow. Not bad for a crazy person.

As Zarkov has stated Newtons Laws (with some minor adjustments) are still used to steer the course to the planets and land men on the moon (I have not read about Zarkov's input into that debate... obviously I do not want to enter into that discussion.. It is a 'done deal" and a great achievement). What matters now is the future... nothing lasts forever as history has shown... and any accolade of the past will become jeering and stoning as the once feted end up on the guillotine. Science is not a series of equal steps towards goals... like Evolution... the steps occasionally are huge and unprecedented towards some new and unknown frontier. That was Newton and it is foolish to not see what what mighty deeds he has wrought... even if he did not see them himself.

Cheers