Speculation is the 3rd most popular topic on here

[jamiestem]

I'm just saying.

[Phi for All]

Based on number of posts? You could also say that Speculations ranks #3 on the list of sub-forums that requires the most clarifications and corrections.

 

I just wish more people would stop thinking it's a bad thing to be here. Ideas need a place to start, and even the best need to prove themselves. The reason most people get moved here is because they leaped over a few steps in the scientific method. That's when the skeptic alarms go off and everyone goes into hypercritical mode.

 

But that's why the method works. It's baby steps in a minefield to make sure those who come after have firm ground to walk on, ground that has been gone over and is trusted to be "kaboom-free". And just because you arrived at a conclusion "safely" doesn't mean there aren't problems in recreating your path.

[swansont]

Getting people to provide evidence in support of their thesis is like pulling teeth a lot of the time — takes a lot of posts. I'm just sayin'.

[mississippichem]

I'm just sayin' that "speculations" don't always mean pseudoscience. It just turns out most people who post their ideas here are not willing to pony up the evidence to back their outlandish claims.

 

We've had a few reasonable speculators post their ideas before, they are just few and far between. This site is owned and operated by people who value empiricism, mathematics, and the scientific method. If someone doesn't jive with that, the door is located next to the "X" button at the top of the internet browser window.

 

If you think we are harsh or hypercritical, try writing a grant to the NSF or pitching a new project proposal to your research finance director at work! I think you'll find their criticism to be an order of magnitude more intense.

Edited April 11, 2011 by mississippichem

[jamiestem]

I like that it is the 3rd most popular subject, Astronomy is tops I believe.

 

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my interests.......I feel space and it's exploration is the most important research we can do. If we could figure out a way to sustain life in space, then we could survive floating through the cosmos forever.

 

I can only imagine trying to get a grant........they'd probably kick me out of the room........

[mooeypoo]

I like that it is the 3rd most popular subject, Astronomy is tops I believe.

 

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my interests.......I feel space and it's exploration is the most important research we can do. If we could figure out a way to sustain life in space, then we could survive floating through the cosmos forever.

 

I can only imagine trying to get a grant........they'd probably kick me out of the room........

Probably, unless you can provide some scientific explanations for your research proposal.

 

~moo

[Edtharan]

Ideas are easy, anyone can come up with an idea. In science, having ideas is good, but just because it is an interesting idea, sounds like it should work, or it makes sense to the person who had the idea does not mean that the idea is a correct (note I used good and correct).

 

Once someone has an idea about something to do with science, it needs to be subject to the scientific method. If it can pass the basics needed for scientific verification, then it becomes an hypothesis. Once it has reached the status of hypothesis, it can be more rigorously investigated as more people will take it seriously.

 

The speculations forum serves the purpose of allowing people to come up with ideas and to speculate on them and to allow other members here (many with scientific backgrounds) to asses the idea and to test if it holds up to the basics of being a scientific idea.