I disagree with this characterization. A crucial part of the scientific method is hypothesis formation. Nearly all of theoretical physics (or theoretical any fi

I disagree with this characterization. A crucial part of the scientific method is hypothesis formation. Nearly all of theoretical physics (or theoretical any field) can he slotted into that part of the method. Unguided experimentation can sometimes produce unexpected results, but many of our best scientific results come as a result of theoreticians proposing complete theories in advance, and then using these theories to generate new experiments. Since you can’t exactly pick up a black hole at the corner store, this type of theory development is even more critical — since it might produce ideas for experiments that we could actually conduct. [\rant]