Category: Science
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Looking Too Closely at Light Blew Newtonian Physics out of the Water
Newtonian physics works pretty darned well. It’s our common-sense experience of the world translated into the jargon of math and science. As I write in Why Stuff Falls Down: Newton’s groundbreaking ideas, developed using the principles of the Scientific Revolution, proved to be so trustworthy that they soon became accepted as full-blown Laws of Nature.…
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What’s So Special About the Scientific Method?
Why should you trust the scientific method? What makes it any better than a great idea from someone you respect? I’ll share some excerpts from my book (Why Stuff Falls Down), and you can see what you think! The essential foundations of modern science are rational thinking, critical thinking, and empiricism. “Rational thinking” means that…
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What’s a Fact?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a fact, what’s a wild guess, and what qualifies as a valid scientific theory. Folks often use the word “fact” to mean something that they really believe in — not necessarily something that can be shown to be objectively true. And “theory?” I see that used all the time…