Speculation (split from Great danger to the Earth)

[Dropship]

Speculation is FUN because it requires no evidence..:)

For example I like to speculate that the woman in the grocers fancies me..

[swansont]

8 minutes ago, Dropship said:

Speculation is FUN because it requires no evidence..:)

For example I like to speculate that the woman in the grocers fancies me..

!

Moderator Note

If you can’t be on topic, please consider whether you should post at all

 

[Dropship]

In a sense, a 'speculation' is a 'theory', many of which have no hard evidence, but we can still have fun examining them.

For example when Einstein first aired his Theory of Relativity he had no evidence, and it was years before science finally proved him correct..:)

[Phi for All]

38 minutes ago, Dropship said:

In a sense, a 'speculation' is a 'theory',

Not in any scientific sense. Theory is as strong as it gets in science. I suggest your suggestion renders the term meaningless.

39 minutes ago, Dropship said:

In a sense, a 'speculation' is a 'theory', many of which have no hard evidence,

I'm assuming you define "hard" as "a bar I can set wherever I want". Theories have models and mountains of evidence to support them. When they lack observational support, such as with String Theory, we rely more heavily on the models, but they still have to have evidence if they're considered a theory.

41 minutes ago, Dropship said:

For example when Einstein first aired his Theory of Relativity he had no evidence, and it was years before science finally proved him correct..:)

No evidence? Are you using your earlier definition of "hard evidence", because his work had plenty of observational evidence, and much of it was based on experiments carried out by others. His explanation solved the mystery with the orbital precession of Mercury. His explanations wouldn't have been credible at all if "he had no evidence". 

You make assertions rather than ask questions or pose problems, and many of those are either incomplete or just plain wrong. It makes you appear to be doing it consciously to waste time or provoke reactions. I wanted you to know so you can adjust your posting style, or at least know why you get so much pushback on many of your posts.

 

[swansont]

We define what we mean by speculation 

2 hours ago, Dropship said:

For example when Einstein first aired his Theory of Relativity he had no evidence, and it was years before science finally proved him correct..:)

But he didn’t call it “the theory of relativity” when he first aired it. The paper was “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” and Einstein later referred to it as the relativity principle.

[Sensei]

3 hours ago, Dropship said:

In a sense, a 'speculation' is a 'theory', many of which have no hard evidence, but we can still have fun examining them.

Scientific theory is not the same as non-scientific theory..

Read an article on this topic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

 

[Dropship]

Is the Theory of Evolution a speculation or a solid proven fact?

[swansont]

4 minutes ago, Dropship said:

Is the Theory of Evolution a speculation or a solid proven fact?

It’s a theory and also a fact.

[Dropship]

Thanks, and here's another speculation I saw; it's apparently unproven but demonstrates how it's fun to think outside the box and push the envelope of scientific thinking..:)-

[beecee]

21 minutes ago, Dropship said:

Is the Theory of Evolution a speculation or a solid proven fact?

 

16 minutes ago, swansont said:

It’s a theory and also a fact.

To expand on swansont's answer,  scientific theories grow in certainty, over time and as they continue matching observational and experimental evidence, and making correct predictions. The theory of evolution has gained so much indistputable evidence, it is now a fact.

[Dropship]

9 minutes ago, beecee said:

 

To expand on swansont's answer,  scientific theories grow in certainty, over time and as they continue matching observational and experimental evidence, and making correct predictions. The theory of evolution has gained so much indistputable evidence, it is now a fact.

 

Yes it's common sense that the fittest will survive , but there are still many missing links along the path of evolution.

I once asked Richard Dawkins about it and he replied "Of course there are missing links". 

[swansont]

9 hours ago, beecee said:

The theory of evolution has gained so much indistputable evidence, it is now a fact.

That’s not actually what I meant. Evolution has been observed - that’s what makes it a fact. There is also a massive amount of evidence that tells us the theory is correct.

9 hours ago, Dropship said:

Yes it's common sense that the fittest will survive , but there are still many missing links along the path of evolution.

That’s not the metric by which you assess a theory. 

There are areas on earth and in space where gravity has not been measured, but that does not call models of gravity into question. That would be a ludicrous standard to apply.