No speculation? Fascinating

[uneasyrider]

That has to be the funnest thing I've ever heard. No speculation...

Speculation: the contemplation or consideration of some subject.

Hypothesis: a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis) or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.

Theory: a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.

Law: any scientific generalization based on factual observations, such as the law of gravitation.

Newton didn't lay the proverbial gravitational egg in a nest. It started with him speculating and then he went from there. You have to start someplace and there are people on here asking HUGE questions and you don't expect to "speculate"! Hilarious! As long as no one is claiming their speculation as a "law" everything is fine. If you don't bounce ideas off each other and play with the idea you'll never be creative enough to get the ball rolling. F=ma started with "speculation". Newton didn't just keep speculating he took his ideas and set them in motion and proved them and that lead to a law. You have to start someplace and with some of the questions being asked here I really don't think anyone on this site has the wherewithal to plop the law out on the table or even the theory in one fell swoop. You have to start someplace and a little play and funning with things opens the mind to new ideas. Stimulation is the nucleation point for the great leap. Stop asking the big questions and stick to the known and you won't have to "speculate".

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Thanks for joining the forum just to share this information you might be upset to find however that pretty much everyone here is well aware of the scientific process and the importance of speculating.

I'm going to hazard a wild guess that this post is a criticism of our purpose and rules, possibly this is born out of a misunderstanding of the point of this site. These forums are not for developing new scientific theories, they are for the teaching and discussion of mainstream science. Many of us (myself included) are scientists who speculate daily in our work but still enjoy this place for what it is. The rationale behind this decision is simple; we have had forums in the past (first called theory development, later independent research) where members could come and speculate wildly in an attempt to try and make a new theory but 99.99% of the time they were crackpots. They wouldn't listen to criticism, didn't understand the science they were talking about and wasted hours of members and mentors time alike.

Bottom line: this forum exists for a specific purpose, the teaching and discussion of mainstream science. The fact that we don't allow what would be useful when practising science (reasonable speculation) is **NOT** a criticism of the importance of speculation.

I hope this has cleared up the various misunderstandings you have and thank you again for sharing those dictionary definitions.

EDIT: actually now that I've read it through your definition of theory is off, a scientific theory is a comprehensive model that takes in all the facts, observations and laws on a subject and gives a framework to explain them.

 

[jtbell]

Yes, speculation is important to the progess of science. It's so important, in fact, that we prefer to leave it to the pros. You can't think outside the box until you know where the walls of the box are, and are familiar what's inside it already. It takes a lot of study to get to that point.

 

[uneasyrider]

Thanks for joining the forum just to share this information you might be upset to find however that pretty much everyone here is well aware of the scientific process and the importance of speculating.

I'm going to hazard a wild guess that this post is a criticism of our purpose and rules, possibly this is born out of a misunderstanding of the point of this site. These forums are not for developing new scientific theories, they are for the teaching and discussion of mainstream science. Many of us (myself included) are scientists who speculate daily in our work but still enjoy this place for what it is. The rationale behind this decision is simple; we have had forums in the past (first called theory development, later independent research) where members could come and speculate wildly in an attempt to try and make a new theory but 99.99% of the time they were crackpots. They wouldn't listen to criticism, didn't understand the science they were talking about and wasted hours of members and mentors time alike.

Bottom line: this forum exists for a specific purpose, the teaching and discussion of mainstream science. The fact that we don't allow what would be useful when practising science (reasonable speculation) is **NOT** a criticism of the importance of speculation.

I hope this has cleared up the various misunderstandings you have and thank you again for sharing those dictionary definitions.

"Thanks for joining the forum just to share this information you might be upset to find however that pretty much everyone here is well aware of the scientific process and the importance of speculating."

Of course I know this, that is why I stated what I did and you might be surprised to know that? It's called sarcasm and you might be surprised to know that too. I see you are capable of it yourself. So, the "banter" out of the way...

All I was getting at is the fact that people are asking huge questions. It's a bit ridiculous not to expect some speculation. I found it humorous is all. There was a ton of it going on.

It might be a good idea to have people stop asking question that need to be speculated upon. Of course, that is impossible.

I thank you for the delightful banter.

"On with the show this is it!" :tongue2:

P.S. If we are going to get "sarcastic". How about this? I'm no english major and never will claim to be but... "pretty much everyone"

 

[uneasyrider]

Yes, speculation is important to the progess of science. It's so important, in fact, that we prefer to leave it to the pros. You can't think outside the box until you know where the walls of the box are, and are familiar what's inside it already. It takes a lot of study to get to that point.

I agree. I was just playing with the "Catch 22". I know...

 

[Ryan_m_b]

All I was getting at is the fact that people are asking huge questions. It's a bit ridiculous not to expect some speculation. I found it humorous is all. There was a ton of it going on.

Ah perhaps we found another misunderstanding, as per the PF rules

Personal theories or speculations that go beyond or counter to generally-accepted science

So you see it's not "no speculation", it's more "no unreasonable, over-speculation".

I thank you for the delightful banter.

No problem.

 

[uneasyrider]

So you see it's not "no speculation", it's more "no unreasonable, over-speculation".

That's reasonable and also all you needed to say. I get it.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

That's reasonable and also all you needed to say. I get it.

Excellent. Thread locked.