[MD] Faith/Skepticism

[Michael Poloukhine]

> dmb says:
> In the vernacular language, a theory is just something like a
> hunch. But in science a theory is as good as it ever gets. A theory
> is the hypothesis that has proven itself. 

MP: Not to be intentionally contrarian here (let alone defend literal 
creationism)...

... theories aren't "proven" let alone b y themselves; they simply gain in static 
power the longer they remain "not dis-proven" by a scientist with a different 
hunch. In the end that still makes a theory no more than a hunch. It will 
ALWAYS be a hunch until it is proven wrong by a new hunch or proven as 
"fact." And a "fact" it is still nothing more than a hunch, just one with an official 
blessing for being the last one standing for long enough that no one bothers to 
question it anymore. At that point it takes heretical status to unseat the hunch, 
usually at the cost of one's profession, sometimes even of one's life. But it is still 
and *always* just a hunch.

This is because that's all science is; the constant refinement / capsizing of 
hunches. That "in science a theory is as good as it ever gets" [and I completely 
agree with dmb on that] pretty much assures that this will always be the case. 
This actually defines the rather pedestrian limitation of science; always 
guessing, always trying to prove, forever seeking to be right, and as such never 
allowing itself enough room to actually comprehend.

MP
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"Don't believe everything you think."