最近会社に行く途中、ipodでpodcastというのを聞いている。インターネットで登録しておけば、勝手に新しいエピソードをダウンロードしてくれる。電波じゃないけどラジオみたいな感覚だ。結構いろんな番組を聞いている。ＣＮＮから天文の話題までいろいろ。ビデオのものもあるけど、満員電車じゃ見えないのでほとんどがオーディオ番組。その中で
Astronmy Castという番組がある。30分くらいのショーで、大学の天文学部の女性教授と天文関連の雑誌かなにかを主宰している人が2人で天文に関するいろんな話題を話している。ちょっと冷やかしで質問メールを出したら丁寧な返事が来た。内容は、答えられないってことだったけどね。
返事：
Hi
Thank you for your insight Abe. We really try to focus on astronomy questions and not to delve into philosophical topics. This would cause much debate that is way beyond the scope of what we would like to cover. If you have any other questions about one of our shows or an astronomy topic we would be happy to answer it.
Thanks for listening,
AstronomyCast Team
質問：
Dear Astronomy Cast:
I have been enjoying the Astronomy cast for months, listening to the interesting talks about various topics in astronomy between Fraser and Pamela.
This time, I have one rather philosophical question for you: it is usually said that a theory is true because the data obtained through observations proved it. Theories not proven by data are called a hypothesis or just a belief. But the reality is million light years away from us, right? I mean there is no way to see it at the moment when it actually happens, there is no way to neither touch it nor smell it. There is no means to observe astronomical phenomenons directly as they are so far away. My question is then what is the difference between a true fact and a belief. It seems to me that they are apparently the same in a sense that there is no way for us to observe the reality directly. Then if we can extend this idea further, a theory may become a truth if somebody just believes a theory very very hard. (It is nothing to do with the reality!) And we need observations in order merely to believe something hard. What do you think?
今度はもうちょっと普通の質問してみようかな。Podcastで自分の名前が呼ばれるのも悪くないかもしれないし。
