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IAU Demotes Pluto to 'Dwarf Planet' Status
davidwr writes "It's official. Pluto's been demoted. It's now one of several 'dwarf planets.' I guess we can drop the 'Period' from 'Mary's violet eyes make John stay up nights.'" (Of course, no one says you have to privately agree with the International Astronomical Union.) Several readers have contributed links to the BBC's coverage of the downgrade, as well as the usefully illustrated story at MSNBC.
The meanings of words are not decided by vote - not even technical words. Imagine a bunch of doctors, even podiatrists, decided to redefine the meaning of the word 'leg'. Would anyone take them seriously? Of course not, not matter how expert they may be on the physiology of legs. So just because the IAU has made this vote here is no reason for anyone else to follow. The IAU, as they are free to do, have simply defined a technical usage for the word 'planet' for their personal use, but there is absolutely no reason why the public should follow. What's incredible, however, is that the rest of the word will. Despite the fact that billions of non-astronomers have been using the word 'planet' quite happily for millennia the rest of the world will simply fall into line because they have been deluded into thinking that a small astronomer elite can make linguistic decisions for them. Astronomers are experts in astronomy, not the arbiters of language.
What next? Mathematicians having a conference to decide whether or not zero is a natural number?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.