I have to admit, I’m uncomfortable with Pluto’s demotion from planet to dwarf planet. It doesn’t meet all the criteria that have been established for the definition of planet, the main problem being that it hasn’t either absorbed the other mass in its region of space into itself or made them into it’s satellites. You can read more about that at this Library of Congress link.
That’s not what really bugs me about downgrading Pluto, though. It’s the feeling of having changed the rules of the game part way through. Moving the goal posts.
Of course, that’s what science does–it moves the goal posts. It changes definitions and models as new facts come to light or new hypothesis are formulated and tested. The earth turns out not to be flat. The sun does not revolve around the earth. Infections can be caused by bacteria not some bad air that was breathed in. (Of course, the bad air may have carried the bacteria.)
When new information comes to light, it seems reasonable to me to change the model, definition, or category. But when no new information is available and we are simply rearranging the existing information, it’s a bit like rearranging letters on the Scrabble board and coming up with a different word. Hardly seems fair to the old word, I guess. But may make sense to do anyway.
Pluto, On the Fringe
Time plastered down your heart tattoo
a crabapple blossom, after the rain.
Pale, faded, pink or perhaps no color at all.
Little soldier marking the far edge.
Closer up, mousy brown. Didn’t we agree
as kids, no take-backs? Irregular,
but who isn't? Past the heart a hare
crouches beneath a crooked evergreen.
Little pink tongue. A little pink inside the ears.
It’s called a close fly-by, but it’s not so close.
Past the hare, a beetle avoiding pine sap.
Past your body, many more. Potato-shaped.
So say instead: fragment, partial, obloid.
Little pink empathy, little pink telepathy.
Well, give it a little more time and I will probably get past poor Pluto’s demotion. Slowly–it has been 18 years since the change which occurred in 2006. But sooner than Pluto’s orbital period of 248 earth years, I promise!