On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:28:26 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:59:41 -0500, wrote:

"What-if's" of theory are usually subject to Popper's Theory of
Falsification, or are a part of the logic that determines whether
theory is falsifiable. This is the tool that opponents of intelligent
Design employ to challenge Creationism or ID, Tim. And it's been used
successfully in the court room to enjoin school districts to restrict
the teaching of Intelligent Design. Since aspects of the metaphysical
are not capable of being falsifiable, then the metaphysical does not
qualify as having proper scientific foundation and Intelligent Design
consequently has no room in the classroom, according to the courts.
Popper's Falsifiability is a tidy, proven method for assessing the
soundness of theory; but, faith and science are two different,
disparate universes.

Interesting you should bring him up. I always liked Hawking's
explanation of Falsification - "No matter how many times the results
of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the
next time the result will not contradict the theory."

Which kind of dovetails with another of his more famous statements:
“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that
events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a
certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”

Oh this could get really deep 'ya know? :)

And how! This stuff can make your head spin. The philosophy of
science isn't necessarily an easy thing to get one's head around. I
remember reading a speech by Einstein, once, that he gave as a
commencement address at the University of Minnesota(?) in which he
insinuated that the notion of a guiding force behind physical reality
was not something that should be readily dismissed, if I recall the
gist of his speech correctly. Though, he said it with a succinct
eloquence and diplomacy that I could never hope to match. I think
Einstein was a bit of a philosopher, too, much like Hawking is a bit
of one.

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