Beam Me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 05/08/2009 5:16:35 PM PDT by decimon
Albert Einstein once said, “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” Einstein’s words express a foundational principle of science intoned by the logician, Karl Popper: Falsifiability. In order to verify a hypothesis there must be a test by which it can be proved false. A thousand observations may appear to verify a hypothesis, but one critical failure could result in its demise. The history of science is littered with such examples.
A hypothesis that cannot be falsified by empirical observations, is not science. The current hypothesis on anthropogenic global warming (AGW), presented by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is no exception to this principle. Indeed, it is the job of scientists to expose the weaknesses of this hypothesis as it undergoes peer review. This paper will examine one key criterion for falsification: ocean heat.
(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...
Specifically dense ping.
The oceans make up about 70% of the earth’s surface, and they’re cooling. Global warming true believers are now so desperate that they’re saying that all the (supposed) excess heat has sunk deep into the ocean, somehow locked away. It’s actually gotten to the point that GW scientests are trying to convince people that warm water is sinking and cooler water has risen to the upper levels of the ocean.
Did you see the story today about the possibility of a sunspot coming into view soon? Practically declared a solar storm event. Sounded like the new peak of cycle 24 will be next week. They are desperate alright.
The liberals won't read it.
I suffered reading it. But I got the point.
“A hypothesis that cannot be falsified by empirical observations, is not science.”
This is absolutely correct. I’m sorry so many people do not understand this very simple principle.
Just to keep the knee-jerk anti-religious from making fools of themselves, I am an atheist.
The falsifiable principle is simply this—any hypothesis for which there is no possible test that can prove it wrong, if it is, cannot be a valid hypothesis, because just anything can be put over on the basis of, “well you cannot prove it wrong.”
Based on that very obvious principle all of the following are NOT sciences—evolution, psychology, all of environmentalism, and cosmology.
All of these are useless intellectual pursuits except for academics, leftists, and collectivist who use all these pseudo-sciences to deceive the gullible and put over the totalitarian agendas.
Hank
It at first reading might seem that a hypothesis must be proven wrong.
Very good, and this is why you should tell Gore to shove the temp graphs and show us the total heat energy budget for the plant.
Where is the heat going? If you can’t find it, then its not happening.
Yes, that is the common misunderstanding of the falsifiable principle. The real idea is, if a hypothesis is scientific one, there must be a test that will prove it false, if it is false. The test then being made, will fail (to prove it false) and therefore, prove it correct. The falsifiable principle does not require the test to actually be made, only that such a test be possible. If no such test is possible, the hypothesis cannot be a genuine scientific one.
“There are fairies at the bottom of the garden” is not a legitimate scientific hypothesis, because there is no way to disprove it. “Deuterium hydroxide is heavier than water because of extra neutrons” is a disprovable hypothesis and therefore a legitimate scientific one. Experiments to disprove it will fail.”
This does not mean that conjectures about other doubtful things are not legitimate, only that they are not “science.” There is more to knowledge and experience than science, however.
Hank
Ping!
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