3 ms·

is there an alternative to the scientific method that I don't know about? I don't think I've seen anyone question the basic framework before

• Tarq0n 7y ago
  Hypothesis generation is definitely also a common goal of scientific work. There are many situations in which you don't have a good prior to base an experiment on.
• SiempreViernes 7y ago
  "the scientific method" is a somewhat nebulous concept in daily discussions, as evidenced by the guy above defining such that reproducibility is not part of it. Personally, I would count reproducibility as a fairly important part of the scientific method, as it demonstrates you've achieved the fundamental requirement of understanding your experimental setup. Without very detailed understanding of your experiment, the experiment isn't scientific, so by extension I would claim that the GP's "scientific method" isn't scientific.
• samcodes 7y ago
  Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote a lot about (many things, including) refining the scientific method in Rationality [0]. IIRC, his point is that the scientific method puts no constraints on what hypotheses you test. He thinks a more orderly search of hypothesis space is preferable. [0] https://www.readthesequences.com/ https://www.readthesequences.com/