January 18, 2018 Friday
Bedtime Story
The Crux of Scientific Theory
It won’t take long for physicists to dump
Einstein in the dustbin of the annals of history if his theory proves to be inconsistent
with the experimental data.
Unlike religions the edifice science does
not care for individual personalities no matter how revered or likeable they
were at one time.
The reason that Einstein is so highly
revered till this day is that each time huge amount of resources in the form of
money and manpower and construction of unimaginably sophisticated experimental
instruments is invested in an experimental design to test the prediction of his
theories each and every time his theory and equations come out with flying
colors.
General relativity is perhaps the ultimate
example to understand the concept of scientific theory as proposed by Karl
Popper.
Most apes that exist on this planet and
have ever existed fail to understand the concept of scientific theory.
A scientific theory is an explanation of
nature that can be and is repeatedly tested and verified using standard
protocols of observation, measurement and then independent evaluation of
results.
The most important aspect of a scientific
theory is perhaps has been left unstated in the above sentence and in general
escapes any specific mention.
The most pivotal and at the same time most
untaught and unstressed aspect of scientific theories is that they are testable
and make falsifiable predictions.
The significance of the last part is such
that I simply can’t overstate its importance.
In fact, I would like to state that the
defining characteristic of scientific theory or knowledge (and thereby any
meaningful statement in general) is to make falsifiable and testable
predictions.
Everything else regarding the word
“scientific” is subservient to this first principle.
This may actually sound baffling to the
dyed-in-the-wool religious believers and men of faith since it is the certainty
of their own tiny faith around which their whole existence revolves or at least
that is how their minds perceives it.
But minds that have stayed away from
societal, tribal and familial indoctrination and have managed to stay objective
can clearly differentiate the known from unknowns and doubtable knowns open to
investigation.
It is not that everything that we have come
to know through the scientific method is open for cataclysmic revolution by an Einstein
lurking around the corner of the century or millennium.
One has to be careful to rightly understand
the implications of the definition of Karl Popper otherwise it is possible for
a young mind to get disillusioned about truths.
I think the definition of scientific theory
as explained by the National Academy of Sciences if far more illuminating than
my own account which perhaps makes assumptions about basic intellectual powers
of my readers.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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