3 ms·

Can you really prove something by the scientific method? Maybe it would be better to say "show a likelihood of at least x%"?

pizza234 12y ago
True. It's a kind of "intellectual" PR stunt. Hopefully, at least it will get rid of the cheap arguments on the opposite side.
- vixin 12y ago
  And presumably ignore cheap tricks and fiddled data on the the other opposite side - a comment not improper given your dismissive tone.
- rockstartower 12y ago
  my cheap argument: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uif1NwcUgMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uif1NwcUgMU
rossjudson 12y ago
Yes. You can prove that water boils when you add enough heat. You are making a philosophical argument, not a scientific one.
- Scienz 12y ago
  If you do it scientifically, meaning by experimentation, you've really only shown that in all observed cases water boils when you add enough heat. It's an inductive process, which unlike deduction is never logically valid - excluding mathematical induction which is really more like deduction, since you can actually test all possible cases that way. It is a philosophical issue, but epistemology is the basis of the validity of science.
- msandford 12y ago
  No, incorrect. In science nothing is ever REALLY proven. But there are standards by which scientists agree that a certain amount of evidence will be accepted as "proof". At least for a while. Where everyone understand that it could always be overturned by some evidence to the contrary. In particle physics it takes five sigma to make a claim. In other fields, often less. http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/the-particle-proof-1150/ http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/the-particle-proof-1150/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_.22scientific_proof.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability For example everyone knew that water boiled once it got hot enough. Then someone invented a pressure vessel and wasn't able to boil water over a fire because as the pressure rose, so did the boiling point. And thus a thing that everyone knew was true for thousands of years wasn't quite anymore.

pizza234 12y ago

True. It's a kind of "intellectual" PR stunt. Hopefully, at least it will get rid of the cheap arguments on the opposite side.

vixin 12y ago
And presumably ignore cheap tricks and fiddled data on the the other opposite side - a comment not improper given your dismissive tone.
rockstartower 12y ago
my cheap argument: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uif1NwcUgMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uif1NwcUgMU

rossjudson 12y ago

Yes. You can prove that water boils when you add enough heat. You are making a philosophical argument, not a scientific one.

Scienz 12y ago
If you do it scientifically, meaning by experimentation, you've really only shown that in all observed cases water boils when you add enough heat. It's an inductive process, which unlike deduction is never logically valid - excluding mathematical induction which is really more like deduction, since you can actually test all possible cases that way. It is a philosophical issue, but epistemology is the basis of the validity of science.
msandford 12y ago
No, incorrect. In science nothing is ever REALLY proven. But there are standards by which scientists agree that a certain amount of evidence will be accepted as "proof". At least for a while. Where everyone understand that it could always be overturned by some evidence to the contrary. In particle physics it takes five sigma to make a claim. In other fields, often less. http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/the-particle-proof-1150/ http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/the-particle-proof-1150/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_.22scientific_proof.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability For example everyone knew that water boiled once it got hot enough. Then someone invented a pressure vessel and wasn't able to boil water over a fire because as the pressure rose, so did the boiling point. And thus a thing that everyone knew was true for thousands of years wasn't quite anymore.