Are you one of those fanatics that believe in gravity?!

Do you believe in gravity?

I’ve gotten this question, thrown as a verbal incendiary, in the middle of a heated discussion from a couple of atheists before. It’s usually intended to demean, belittle, and even bully those who have faith in religion by those who are committed to science.

But what they don’t realize is that the question and its answer, “Do you believe in gravity?” is actually very telling about peoples beliefs, and in particular, whether they're “fanatical”.

Do you think you have a good enough idea of what gravity actually is so as to say you believe in "it"? Got your answer?

Good, now let’s see what you can discover about yourself based on this.

There are really two operative words in the question, and what you consider to be the meaning of both of them says a lot about you. First, let’s consider what you think about the word “gravity”.

Out of the many things gravity can mean, for this question most people take it to mean one of these two things:

Meaning 1) Gravity is the force we feel as a result of what’s described by Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. More specifically, gravity is the force we feel due to an object (aka mass) deforming space-time, causing objects to in effect “fall” towards each other due to the space time deformations.

Meaning 2) Gravity is a force we feel as a result of an unknown force of attraction that appears to pull all matter towards all other matter, appearing to be related to the distances and quantities of matter. Gravity is simply the force we feel regardless of the mechanism, keeping our feet firmly planted on the ground.

The first definition is of course the scientific one. Einsteins theory of General Relativity gives us a pretty accurate description of how, mathematically, we think gravity works, and a lot of measurements confirm this math. The second definition is simply observational, or non-judgmental; we jump up, we are pulled back down.

Before we go any further, make a note of which definition you thought it was when you read the question.

If you chose definition 1 above, then you’re likely "biased", and possibly a fanatic; you’re one answer away from being sure if you are.

The other important word in this question is “believe”. To really get an idea if you're a candidate to be a fanatic, you need to decide now, before you read on, if you think you "know" what gravity really is. Out of the many meanings "believe" can have, for this question most people take it to mean one of two things;

A) To accept as true, or to "know".

B) To hold as an opinion.

If you’re the type of person who generally considers you "know" something is true when you believe in it, then you’re a good candidate for a fanatic. If you chose both 1, and A my friend, then you’ve got some serious thinking to do, because I’m sorry to say, you’re most likely a fanatic.

If you chose 1 and A, then you think that gravity isn’t just any force that pulls people towards the Earth, it can only be what Einstein described. Further, since you chose A, it would seem that we might as well stop researching alternative ideas, the case is closed. Evidence presented to you will seem to appear as erroneous, indicative of flaws or biases in the experimenters, etc. For you, gravity is only what Einstein described, despite contrary evidence.

Interestingly, some have noted that this phenomena of fanaticism described above regarding the common persons semantics of belief and gravity is not restricted to just religious or scientific "beliefs", but is exercised in almost in exactly the same way in regards to things like race or creed.

Ultimately, in scientific matters such as the physical nature of gravity (or even social issues such as race relations), declaring complete "knowledge" of something biases the inquisitive mind, and closes out further, perhaps more accurate perceptions. Think about it. (Either you are prejudiced in a belief, or you aren't)

Editors note: And even those that "believe" in Einsteins "gravity" seem to still believe it despite recent data from the Pioneer space probe:

However, if you chose 1 and B, then you’re not a hopeless fanatic, yet. The dictionary definition of gravity does not include any reference to the actual theories, just that it’s a force, more like definition 2 above.

If you chose 1, then it shows that you’re biased, towards scientific explanations for what things mean, how things are defined. Just loosen up a little, keep your mind open, at least a little bit. And check out the definition of gravity in Websters, or Encarta. Try and keep in mind that gravity is not defined by General Relativity -- it’s actually the other way around.

And finally, if you chose 2, and B, it would seem that you’re on the right track; you don’t appear to be some unhinged science fanatic (like the folks that actually asked me this question!).

But you’d be surprised, some people do believe in "gravity", and that it is exactly what Einstein described. Often those who pose this question, not only believe it, they somehow know it is true.

And that my friend, is a fanatic.