Law and Theory

The terms 'law' and 'theory' do not establish relative certainty. That is a common misconception, even among some scientists who haven't thought about it too much.

Virtual Particles and the First Law:
Check out first 2 paragraphs:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=are-virtual-particles-rea&topicID=13

The question arises: "Is Intelligent Design science?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58UDTq3kaZM

There are specific claims that some IDer's make that are testable, but they don't disprove ID. Evolution is observable and disprovable and is science. ID is testable (to an extent), but not disprovable. It isn't science. ID is an implicit invocation of magic. They are very coy about it, but that's the bottom line.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• law
• theory
• creationism
• evolution
• certainty

[spark300c]

biological population change is that considered a law?

[TheFallibleFiend]

"... biological population change ..."

I don't know what you mean. What about biological population change?

[USCohen]

I think the person may have meant "hypothesis" and "theory"; the differences in these two fit his claim. It would seem that Laws refer to general principles of nature; while theories refer to specific phenomena. But I know of no definition that would relegate one or the other inferior. BTW, Please delete the comment below me; I don't want to be near it. IMHO, you look like G*d, since we were all created in his image. I am sorry to remind you that esteeming humanity is a "religious" princicple.

[TheFallibleFiend]

Agree with most of it, but not that "theories refer to specific phenomena." Theories and laws both generalize a bunch of observations. Both of them are "models," but they're modeling different things. Maybe an analogy would be Theory is to law as dynamics is to kinematics. Kinematics describes the motion (of a particle for example). Dynamics describes the forces acting on the particle that cause the motion.

[USCohen]

Good, thx. I know that hypothesis isn't as strong as theory until well tested, and that's what I was getting at; All the theories and laws I could pick out of my limited science background, as I said, "seem[ed]" to fit the specific and general, respectively. But now that I think about it, the "general theory" of relativity... At any rate, I should have looked it up before identifying an indeterminate with the qualifier, "it would seem that." Thanks again.

[TheFallibleFiend]

No problem. This is not obvious stuff, really. Merriam Webster says hypothesis, theory, and law are synomyms. It then goes onto to state the distinctions, but I suspect those would be lost on the casual reader.

[TheFallibleFiend]

The video is not about God(s) or atheism. It's about the difference between a law and a theory. OTOH, I don't see that xian deity is any more supported than fairies and the like.

[mensa39]

"Do you have any scientific reason to believe that mankind came into existence as a fully developed organism independent of macroevolution?Why Darwinists Reject Intelligent Design" . Please watch this video and make your comments there because it addressesYou atheist keep putting up the same old tired arguments of Thor, Odin, space elephants, unicorns fairies, etc. Can't you come up with anything more original than that. It is so immature, and a ridiculous comparison

[Brainmold]

I didn't ask if ID was science. I asked if Intelligent design is a theory. I'm not mad, but I know that ID is religion. I would hate for anyone to think that I implied ID has any validity. I was only wondering if it had any properties that could label it as a theory. I should have been more specific. Can you take my name out of the video description?. You can say "someone asked." I'm always sending you PM's and asking you for favors, so hate to bother you on what appears to be a trivial matter.

[Brainmold]

"It's too bad Richard Dawkins stated that its possible that alien life could have "seeded" life here on earth, apparently not thinking about where the aliens must have come from. Idiot."

To find out why Richard Dawkins said that go to expelledexposed(dot)com.