|
Post by JoeLatics on Mar 23, 2010 21:45:05 GMT
For instance - the first person to provide me with proof of Gravity wins... something or other
|
|
|
Post by hallmackem on Mar 30, 2010 0:27:08 GMT
You win something. First prize in the stating the obvious competition.
Science works by disproving hypotheses to build models (theories) of how things work. We never say anything is conclusive but we can say it is probably. This doesn't make it any less valid! In fact, a rigorously tested scientific theory is about as close to proof as you'll get in this world!
|
|
|
Post by Bismarck on Mar 30, 2010 13:20:43 GMT
Occam's Razor...check it out.
|
|
|
Post by hallmackem on Mar 30, 2010 14:04:09 GMT
Occam's Razor: Effectively, the simplest solution is the right solution.
Not exactly true...
|
|
fatmanstokie
Subs Bench
[M:25]
handle each situation like a dog.... if you can't eat it, or hump it, wee on it and walk away
Posts: 793
|
Post by fatmanstokie on Mar 30, 2010 22:21:05 GMT
For instance - the first person to provide me with proof of Gravity wins... something or other well for one we aint floating around in mid air what sort of proof do you actually want?
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Mar 31, 2010 18:17:17 GMT
LOL!
What about the Apollo mission that dropped a feather & a lead weight (I think it was) together on the moon - which is airless. They both hit the deck at the same time so doesn't that prove gravity?
|
|
|
Post by JoeLatics on Mar 31, 2010 18:24:14 GMT
LOL! What about the Apollo mission that dropped a feather & a lead weight (I think it was) together on the moon - which is airless. They both hit the deck at the same time so doesn't that prove gravity? It might happen differently the next time, though You can't actually prove Gravity without testing every atom in the Universe against every other atom in the Universe. Same principal as looking out of your window, seeing green grass, and therefore stating that "all grass is green". You'd have to test every single blade of grass on earth to prove this hypothesis, and as soon as you find one that's a different colour than green, the hypothesis is disproved. So you jump up and come down, and say "this will happen every single time anyone jumps up anywhere on the planet". To prove this, you have to test every single person against every single point on the planet, which can obviously never be done - thus not proved
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Mar 31, 2010 18:30:16 GMT
I accept your point Joe (even Ben did!) - just thought the experiment was a good one.
|
|
|
Post by hallmackem on Mar 31, 2010 22:19:47 GMT
LOL! What about the Apollo mission that dropped a feather & a lead weight (I think it was) together on the moon - which is airless. They both hit the deck at the same time so doesn't that prove gravity? It might happen differently the next time, though You can't actually prove Gravity without testing every atom in the Universe against every other atom in the Universe. Same principal as looking out of your window, seeing green grass, and therefore stating that "all grass is green". You'd have to test every single blade of grass on earth to prove this hypothesis, and as soon as you find one that's a different colour than green, the hypothesis is disproved. So you jump up and come down, and say "this will happen every single time anyone jumps up anywhere on the planet". To prove this, you have to test every single person against every single point on the planet, which can obviously never be done - thus not proved Yes, but that is how science works. That doesn't devalue it in any way. It just means that it takes a lot of testing of a lot of hypotheses until we get a theory as sound as the theory of evolution. Meaning that when we do have a theory that sound, it becomes very difficult to disprove and it becomes generally accepted. That doesn't mean it applies everywhere in the known universe, just that it applies within the parameters its been tested in. Sometimes its reasonable to extrapolate from that, such as with the statement: "All life on Earth has a nucleic acid genome." Now obviously we haven't tested all the species on Earth, probably not even all the known ones. Yet we can still reasonably make that assumption because nothing yet has been found that doesn't have a nucleic acid genome. So yes, there is scope for that hypothesis to be disproved, its just very unlikely. So we accept it until someone disproves it. And rarely would we make a blanket statement like "All grass is green." None of this is new, its just how science is.
|
|
|
Post by JoeLatics on Apr 2, 2010 19:24:35 GMT
I'm not saying I don't believe in gravity, I meant it more as a philosophical point
|
|
|
Post by hallmackem on Apr 2, 2010 22:10:20 GMT
Fair enough. Its hardly one of the controversial issues though...
|
|