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Then it sounds like these are not really 100 "confirmed" planets (for the usual usage of confirmed), instead they are 100 "likely" planets.
by nonbel 10y ago
Then it sounds like these are not really 100 "confirmed" planets (for the usual usage of confirmed), instead they are 100 "likely" planets.
- abdullahkhalids 10y agoYes. There is no notion of confirmation in physics (or science). All you can do is perform different experiments till all explanations except one have been falsified. The one has been "confirmed" is the lazy way of saying it. Somebody could think of new theory tomorrow that explains the data just as well as the theory that planets exist, and then the planets will be "deconfirmed" till further experiments falsify one of the theories.
- nonbel 10y agoPersonally I wouldn't use "confirmed" or "proved" to discuss any hypothesis. However, I think confirmed could be acceptable in some cases. Usually it would be some kind of cheap screening test followed up by a more expensive (but more reliable) gold standard test. Sure, the gold standard may still be wrong, but at least everyone knows what you mean by confirmed. I find the use of confirmed here to be highly misleading.