FirmhandKY
Posts: 8948
Joined: 9/21/2004 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: vincentML quote:
ORIGINAL: tazzygirl ~FR Everything scientific begins with a belief/faith. Sometimes that belief/faith is provern, sometimes its disproven, both sometimes leading to a new discovery. Think... the discovery of bacteria or the use of any medication. The belief or faith must be present before the science begins to seek the answers. Beg to differ tazzy. Everything scientific begins with observation, question and wonder. The question is then rephrased into a testable statement - that is an hypothesis. Usually the null hypothesis is tested first. That is the antithesis of the hyposthesis, or more simply the more doubtful cause and effect. Or "The statistical hypothesis that states that there are no differences between observed and expected data." If the null hypothesis is shown to be unlikely by trials and obsevations (whatever the design) then the favored hypothesis has more credence. I think I have that right. It has been a while since ... lol! The discovery of bacteria came on the shoulders of the construction of the telescope/microscope lens systems and as you likely know given your medical knowledge there is a lot of trial and error in the process of developing medications. A Lot!! I hope that all makes sense. I am a little rusty on scientific method anymore. Ahh, in theory, and in the abstract, what you say is true, vincent. But generally, that's not how it works when scientists wish to explore something. Usually, they have a belief that there is something to discover, or they discover something through serendipity. I'd also like to make the distinction between "facts" and "assumptive facts". A "true" scientist never considers any "fact" as absolute, just another basis for thinking and expanding knowledge. Many times through out the history of science, a "fact" has been discovered not to be true. What, then, was the "fact" while it was believed to be true, and what is it once it has been proved to be false? For example, at one time it was believed to be "a fact" that the smallest, indivisible bits of matter were electrons and protons, which make up atoms. Now we have quarks. Beyond that, we have vibrating string theory, in which matter is simply a form of energy. What "facts" make up "objective reality"? How can they change, if "science, logic and reason" tells us that one thing is a fact today, but isn't a fact tomorrow? Firm
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