Mitt Romney is one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time

[SeanL]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Scientific "facts" change.. It's not that rare.

Science changes, but normally it builds on itself. Yes there are instances where well "known" facts completely change, but normally those changes are mere improvements upon previous theories (rather than completely invalidating them).

For example, Newton's laws of motion are actually not "correct", as Einstein showed with the special theory of relativity matter changes its behavior as it approaches the speed of light. In fact even though it is a theory your iPhone would not work without the special theory of relativity, so there is an algorithm for the GPS in your iPhone that adjusts for what the theory of relativity calls "time dilation."

Does that mean Newton's laws of motion are trash? No of course not. While it is wrong in a sense it is still a building block towards the next scientific achievement (the theory of relativity). And for the purposes of high school physics Newton's equations work relatively well (because the effects of time dilation are extremely small in slow moving objects). And I'm sure one day some great scientist will improve our current understanding of motion.

Now is the scientific method perfect? No, nothing is, but as Winston Churchill said of democracy, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." The scientific method has been shown to be the best system for gathering facts, and until something better comes along it is foolish to not accept that it is currently the best thing out there for gathering evidence.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by SeanL

Science changes, but normally it builds on itself. Yes there are instances where well "known" facts completely change, but normally those changes are mere improvements upon previous theories (rather than completely invalidating them).
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Meh