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Author Topic:   Evolution in pieces.
nator
Member (Idle past 2199 days)
Posts: 12961
From: Ann Arbor
Joined: 12-09-2001


Message 140 of 153 (74706)
12-22-2003 6:29 PM
Reply to: Message 118 by The Elder
12-20-2003 8:35 PM


quote:
You also said all of science is unproven, I DONT think that is true, specation is proven.
Nothing in science is proven in the sense that nothing in science is ever considered to be immune to new evidence.
That is called "tentativity", and is a very important tenet of scientific inquiry.
Here's another explanation:
science - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
A necessary consequence of scientific claims being falsifiable is that they are also fallible. For example, Einstein's special theory of relativity is accepted as "correct" in the sense that "its necessary inclusion in calculations leads to excellent agreement with experiments" (Friedlander 1972, 41). This does not mean the theory is infallibly certain. Scientific facts, like scientific theories, are not infallible certainties. Facts involve not only easily testable perceptual elements; they also involve interpretation.
Noted paleoanthropologist and science writer Stephen Jay Gould reminds us that in science 'fact' can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent" (Gould 1983, 254). However, facts and theories are different things, notes Gould, "not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts." In Popper's words: "Theories are nets cast to catch what we call 'the world': to rationalize, to explain, and to master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever finer and finer."
To the uninformed public, facts contrast with theories. Non-scientists commonly use the term 'theory' to refer to a speculation or guess based on limited information or knowledge. However, when we refer to a scientific theory, we are not referring to a speculation or guess, but to a systematic explanation of some range of empirical phenomena. Nevertheless, scientific theories vary in degree of certainty from the highly improbable to the highly probable. That is, there are varying degrees of evidence and support for different theories, i.e., some are more reasonable to accept than others.
There are, of course, many more facts than theories, and once something has been established as a scientific fact (e.g., that the earth goes around the sun) it is not likely to be replaced by a "better" fact in the future. Whereas, the history of science clearly shows that scientific theories do not remain forever unchanged. The history of science is, among other things, the history of theorizing, testing, arguing, refining, rejecting, replacing, more theorizing, more testing, etc. It is the history of theories working well for a while, anomalies occurring (i.e., new facts being discovered which do not fit with established theories) and new theories being proposed and eventually replacing the old ones partially or completely (Kuhn). It is the history of rare geniuses--such as a Newton, a Darwin or an Einstein--finding new and better ways of explaining natural phenomena.
We should remember that science, as Jacob Bronowski put it, "is a very human form of knowledge....Every judgment in science stands on the edge of error.... Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible" (Bronowski, 374). "One aim of the physical sciences," he said, "has been to give an exact picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that aim is unattainable" (353).

This message is a reply to:
 Message 118 by The Elder, posted 12-20-2003 8:35 PM The Elder has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 145 by The Elder, posted 12-26-2003 10:22 PM nator has not replied

  
nator
Member (Idle past 2199 days)
Posts: 12961
From: Ann Arbor
Joined: 12-09-2001


Message 141 of 153 (74710)
12-22-2003 6:42 PM
Reply to: Message 133 by The Elder
12-21-2003 3:17 AM


Re: reply to 131-132
quote:
One of the things that has been observed with mutation is, mutation has not ever shown/been-observed to have a enhancment of any kind,
I have a mutation which prevented my lower wisdom teeth from forming. I have a small mouth, and had to get braces and extractions to get all of my teeth to fit, so I would have definitely had painful impacted wisdom teeth had they existed.
Therefore, the mutation was beneficial.
...unless you can explain to me how it wasn't a good thing...

This message is a reply to:
 Message 133 by The Elder, posted 12-21-2003 3:17 AM The Elder has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 144 by The Elder, posted 12-26-2003 10:17 PM nator has not replied

  
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