Subject: From Political Cortex

From: David Harris <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 04:23:12 +0000

Right Wing Attacks on Science Part I: Intelligent Deception Email
    <http://www.politicalcortex.com/email/2006/1/19/104614/634> Print
    <http://www.politicalcortex.com/print/2006/1/19/104614/634>

By *mole333 <http://www.politicalcortex.com/user/mole333> *
01/23/2006 12:15:38 PM EST

Science is a very specific process of hypothesis, testing and revision 
of hypothesis. When a hypothesis is tested, that test has to be able to 
solidly DISPROVE the hypothesis. Otherwise it is not a valid scientific 
test. A hypothesis is something you do your best to DISPROVE. If your 
careful testing is unable to disprove the hypothesis, then that 
hypothesis is supported by your test. As years go by and many scientists 
submit a given hypothesis to successive rounds of testing in an attempt 
to disprove it, the hypothesis gets refined and further supported until 
it has such robust support from so many tests that we call it a 
"theory." A theory is not something that is proven. Nothing in science 
can ever be definitively proven. A theory can merely be so thoroughly 
supported that further hypotheses can be built upon it with confidence 
and very accurate predictions can be made from it. Often years later new 
information comes up that requires further refining of the theory, but 
the basics remain intact.