•How the scientific
method works with real human scientists
•
•The best scientists really do try do “falsify” their own
theories
–It’s the
way it “should” work.
–You look a
lot less foolish when you find your own mistakes.
–
•But to have a “fair” chance, theories do need someone to
defend them.
–Claims
that a theory has been proven wrong can be (and often are) mistaken.
–The person
who proposes a theory is presumably best qualified to defend it.
–It isn’t
just a game – the theories were created to be USED for further work, and that is usually being done first by the
people who developed them.
–
•Even if the originators are less than vigorous in
testing their own theory, others
will be trying to do that.
•
•Individual
scientists do not always follow the full scientific method outlined, but because of competition the “system” as a
whole does tend to.