Guys.... this has been a really fun morning. I've had a software application running in the background all day. I don't generally get this kind of time to have fun. The debate has been very insightful.... I mean I've learned this morning that a true scientist can't be 100% certain that a spaceship can orbit the earth, because the theory can never be "proven". I guess you can count me out for one of those paid trips some day. I couldn't take a chance on that theory being wrong.... :)
Have a nice day all!
I've learned this morning that a true scientist can't be 100% certain that a spaceship can orbit the earth, because the theory can never be "proven". Still don't get it? The claim, "a spaceship can orbit the earth," is not a scientific theory. It's a specific assertion. Theories must be general, applicable to any and all specific instances within their bounds.
If we make the observation, "here's a spaceship, and it's orbiting the earth," then that is a fact which may well comprise a test of a theory or be explicable by a theory. (Actually this fact would variously implicate a number of theories.)