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On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, Michael wrote:
>> Sure, that's fine too. You can get a theory from anywhere. It's how you
>> test it that really matters.
>
> I don't quite agree with that. A theory has no real value until it's
> been tested but I don't think where you get theories from doesn't
> matter. Pulling a theory totally out of your ass is a waste of time and
> incremental theories, while useful, really aren't what drives science.
> It is those intuitive flashes where someone comes up with a new idea,
> that is based on insight rather than bullshit, that really drive the
> world forward. So it really does matter, I think, where a theory comes
> from. Inspiration is the crucial heart of science.
If it integrates a lot of observations, and isn't contradicted by existing
data, why does it matter how it was generated? You can say that it should
be "based on insight rather than on bullshit," but we usually can't say
which of those two sources was the origin of the new idea. People don't
know how they create new ideas.
Mike
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