So Much Theory,So Little Fact.

Like all great hypotheses,the Theory Of Relativity relies on the basic assumption that nobody will ever be able to do the experiment which will prove it wrong;and anything that can't be disproved must be true!!

Actually relativity is quite well tested. See en.wikipedia.org... for example.

Originally posted by jakyll

Like all great hypotheses,the Theory Of Relativity relies on the basic assumption that nobody will ever be able to do the experiment which will prove it wrong;and anything that can't be disproved must be true!!

Each experimental test of relativity (indeed any scientific theory) is a test of falsification.

Just read a bit about the Popperian philosophy of science. Essentially, even if we observe the sun to come up day after day, we can never prove that it will do so tomorrow. What we can do is make a judgment call based on prior experience as to the probability of it happening. BUT, if we make the observation that it doesn't, then my theory is wrong.

So, in sum, we can never truly prove a theory true, we can easily falsify though.

The problem here is that you say 'anything that can't be disproved must be true', this isn't the case in science. A scientific theory/hypothesis must be able to be falsified by observation, it must make testable and falsifiable predictions. When a theory makes numerous prediction which have been shown to conform to experimental observations, then we can have more reason to accept this theory as a good approximation to the real-world.

For example, Newtonian mechanics makes specific predictions, in fact, it is observed to be able to predict the motions of planets very well. But we know that newtonian mechanics is wrong. Relativity is a closer approximation to truth than Newtonian physics. But that does not mean that relativity is truth, just a better approximation of it (indeed, we know that relativity is not perfect and will likely be superceded in time).

In essence, a theory that can't be disproved is not science, but pseudoscience (e.g., intelligent design).

Time is the only constant but nobody can prove it. It is in all the formulas. Time has rendered all theorys useless.

reply to post by jakyll


I think you are thinking of the word THEORY how the public uses the word, which is in stark contrast to what the word means to science. Scientific theory is not the same as the general definition of the word as we laymen use it...

In scientific usage, a theory does not mean an unsubstantiated guess or hunch, as it can in everyday speech. A theory is a logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of a related set of natural or social phenomena. It originates from or is supported by experimental evidence (see scientific method).

In this sense, a theory is a systematic and formalized expression of all previous observations which is predictive, logical and testable. In principle, scientific theories are always tentative, and subject to corrections or inclusion in a yet wider theory. Commonly, a large number of more specific hypotheses may be logically bound together by just one or two theories.

As a general rule for use of the term, theories tend to deal with much broader sets of universals than do hypotheses, which ordinarily deal with much more specific sets of phenomena or specific applications of a theory.

en.wikipedia.org...

A theory is a culmination and a body of evidence stemming from a HYPOTHESIS, only becoming scientific theory after careful consideration and independent and correlating peer review.

[edit on 10/3/2007 by greatlakes]