• cynar@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It is part of science, it’s an untested (and currently untestable) hypothesis. Such thought experiments can be very useful. Running through the consequences (and possible experiments) can sometimes give useful insights into other areas of physics.

      The problem is when layman take the scientific equivalent of a debate joke and treat it as gospel. It’s similar to what happened with the flat earth society (started out as a debating joke, and got overrun by idiots).

      • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        An untestable hypothesis is not science. Science is ideas and hypothesis that have undergone the scientific method. Until then it’s just a thought experiment.

        • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yep. If it’s not testable, it’s not science.

          I was watching some dumb video where a Christian “scientist” was trying to “prove” that god was the best scientific explanation because it could not be wrong. Which is exactly why explaining things with god isn’t science.

            • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Depends on what you mean by “The Big bang”. If you’re talking about a seemingly spontaneous explosion of matter ~14 bya, then no, that’s not science. That’s like saying that the sun, or dirt, or a hurricane is science. Forming a hypothesis that all matter can be traced back to a single expansive event, then observing movement of celestial bodies, measuring those movements with redshift and seeing if that data is in-line with your hypothesis… That’s science.

    • tetelestia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s debatable. It’s a logic based hypothesis that scientists are looking for a way to falsify it.