09-12-2014, 05:47 PM
TomK,
I stand corrected (and happily so). I guess I underestimated how carefully my post would be read (however, I do appreciate, the attention you gave to it). You are, of course, absolutely right. Nothing of science can ever be absolutely proven because--as per my own arguments--experimental evidence is always open to modification, refinement, or even nullification. This is especially true as a result of the increasing sophistication of our technologies and experimental methodologies.
However, in the general sense, even scientists slip up once in a while and use the word. (I don't have a college degree--so I have a good excuse; but my Dad was a world-class microbiologist--and even he was known to let the P word slip out in conversation.)
I would just point out a few well known experiments that even academic writers sometimes speak of as having "proved" or "disproved" standing or proposed theories:
The Michelson-Morely experiment of 1887 which "disproved" the standing theory of the Aether through which light and matter were assumed to move.
Eddington's 1919 observations of a solar eclipse that "proved" Einstein's 1915 Theory of General Relativity by measuring the Red Shift effect which that theory predicted.
Louis Pasteur's experiments in the mid 1800's with filters over boiled meat broths that "disproved" the theory of Spontaneous Generation" and "proved" the validity of the Germ Theory.
I would love to have more discussions like this with some members of this forum; but unfortunately, I moved from to the mainland earlier this year after almost thirty years in Kapoho. I just stumbled onto this forum while trying to get more information on the lava flow, and I had no idea that there were that many people in Puna with similar interests.
Anyway, I'm afraid that this may be detracting from the purpose of the forum, so I will leave it at this for now.
Hopefully, this will divert people's attention away from the egg on my face.
I stand corrected (and happily so). I guess I underestimated how carefully my post would be read (however, I do appreciate, the attention you gave to it). You are, of course, absolutely right. Nothing of science can ever be absolutely proven because--as per my own arguments--experimental evidence is always open to modification, refinement, or even nullification. This is especially true as a result of the increasing sophistication of our technologies and experimental methodologies.
However, in the general sense, even scientists slip up once in a while and use the word. (I don't have a college degree--so I have a good excuse; but my Dad was a world-class microbiologist--and even he was known to let the P word slip out in conversation.)
I would just point out a few well known experiments that even academic writers sometimes speak of as having "proved" or "disproved" standing or proposed theories:
The Michelson-Morely experiment of 1887 which "disproved" the standing theory of the Aether through which light and matter were assumed to move.
Eddington's 1919 observations of a solar eclipse that "proved" Einstein's 1915 Theory of General Relativity by measuring the Red Shift effect which that theory predicted.
Louis Pasteur's experiments in the mid 1800's with filters over boiled meat broths that "disproved" the theory of Spontaneous Generation" and "proved" the validity of the Germ Theory.
I would love to have more discussions like this with some members of this forum; but unfortunately, I moved from to the mainland earlier this year after almost thirty years in Kapoho. I just stumbled onto this forum while trying to get more information on the lava flow, and I had no idea that there were that many people in Puna with similar interests.
Anyway, I'm afraid that this may be detracting from the purpose of the forum, so I will leave it at this for now.
Hopefully, this will divert people's attention away from the egg on my face.