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Forums - General - Is science too much about assumptions?

d21lewis said:
I was told that the only reason bullets go in straight lines is because you were told that's how they move. Truth is, you can curve a bullet. I saw a documentary where a guy curved a bullet and shot like four or five different people standing in a circle.

Was the bullet altered in any way? Because Mythbsuters tested this a ton of times. And they never got  it to curve.



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archer9234 said:
d21lewis said:
I was told that the only reason bullets go in straight lines is because you were told that's how they move. Truth is, you can curve a bullet. I saw a documentary where a guy curved a bullet and shot like four or five different people standing in a circle.

Was the bullet altered in any way? Because Mythbsuters tested this a ton of times. And they never got  it to curve.





Science is based on a lot of assumptions yes.

It's something people should keep in mind, because we generally know a lot less about shit then you'd think we do. Even things as basic as medical care are a lot less certain then you'd think.

Is it based too much on assumptions?

No, because it's based on the minimum amount of assumptions possible.

It's just there is a shitload of them because we don't know shit about shit.



show me where it says assume in the scientific method. only assumption is that it works which is demonstrably true by applied science - medicine works, computers compute, planes fly.

1. Observe
2. Hypothesize
3. Test
4. Results
5. Conclusions

any assumption is negated by TEST, you can assume contrary to the results but the results are not subject to your whims only subject to nature itself



pauluzzz1981 said:

Let's get this clear. I love science. I'm reading alot about science, if i can understand it. But i was watching a program on discovery about the stars, dark matter, anti-materie and wormholes. I love the theories, but aren't they going too far? I was listening to a scientist, pressumably one of the smartest people of the world and he was talking nonsense. He was talking about alternate universes and that we can create them in the future with some device. My only question was, where do we leave another universe?

Look, i know, i'm not so smart and we need people with vision. But where is the line between interesting theory and woohoo??

I don`t think you were able to accurately judge what you saw. Those Sciency tv series are made to amaze people and obviously only unimaginable things will blow the viewers mind. He was just speculating this has nothing to do with science and it isn`t how science works. That you can create another universe theoretically if this and that is correct are just logical conclusions based on the theories if you had some parameters fullfilled. Science is about small steps discovering the truth bit by bit and correcting theories constantly. Obviously scientist realize that they have something fundamentally wrong. Because they can`t bring relativity and quantum theory together eventhough both theories are proven 100 of times to be correct. Yet they play by totally different rules that have nothing to do with each other.  

 

The multiverse theory is just a way to explain things were we haven`t found an answer and actually its one of the better theories out there. As it does explain quite alot. It would explain the uncertainty of the quantum states and why they act as irationally as they do. And some other things we saw in the background radiation inflation it would also explain why our universe is finetuned for life to emerge without having to use god as an explanation. 

 

Also in what way is this discussion not suited for work ?



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You just posted this question using technology of modern science.

 

The assumptions are looking good at this level!

 

As for the theory of the universe, the theory of gravity, matter, quantum physics and dark matter/dark energy, I agree that it is a stretch and most is still unconfirmed theory. But they are theories, not assumptions..

I lost it at the speed of light is a constant when it you can see it bends in water.. if it bends it must slow down on the inside of the curve..!



that depends on what they're talking about. Things that we have concrete evidence for (evolution, gravity, germ theory, etc) then no, it's not about assumptions. It's about observation and making deductions based on those observations.

We can speculate things, though, but only based on what we can reasonably say is true. For example, we know that atoms are mostly empty space. So if the atoms in the human body were rearranged just a little bit, we could walk through walls.



archer9234 said:
d21lewis said:
I was told that the only reason bullets go in straight lines is because you were told that's how they move. Truth is, you can curve a bullet. I saw a documentary where a guy curved a bullet and shot like four or five different people standing in a circle.

Was the bullet altered in any way? Because Mythbsuters tested this a ton of times. And they never got  it to curve.





pauluzzz1981 said:

Let's get this clear. I love science. I'm reading alot about science, if i can understand it. But i was watching a program on discovery about the stars, dark matter, anti-materie and wormholes. I love the theories, but aren't they going too far? I was listening to a scientist, pressumably one of the smartest people of the world and he was talking nonsense. He was talking about alternate universes and that we can create them in the future with some device. My only question was, where do we leave another universe?

Look, i know, i'm not so smart and we need people with vision. But where is the line between interesting theory and woohoo??


Maths.

Their crazy ideas are backed up by solid maths.

HOWEVER, these ideas make vast amounts of assumptions which we have no idea are true or not. Mathmatically they are sound, but if you somehow mathmatically show the sky to be pink, that does not mean it will be.



existenz2 said:

You just posted this question using technology of modern science.

 

The assumptions are looking good at this level!

 

As for the theory of the universe, the theory of gravity, matter, quantum physics and dark matter/dark energy, I agree that it is a stretch and most is still unconfirmed theory. But they are theories, not assumptions..

I lost it at the speed of light is a constant when it you can see it bends in water.. if it bends it must slow down on the inside of the curve..!


ofcourse it slows down man. Its a constant in the vacuum of space the upper limit is c. Light is just half as fast in a medium like water and actually its crawling in snail speed out of the suns core. The photons you see today were created thousands of years ago in the core of the sun and slowly crawled out of it.