Aizle wrote:
Ienan wrote:
And Aizle isn't describing correctly what a theory is.
I'm curious where you feel that I'm being incorrect.
Fair enough. Let's look at your post.
Aizle wrote:
And really, it comes down to the scientific method. There are no "facts" in science the old saying goes. So while I believe that HIGW exists, and believe that most of the science points to it, it's still at the end of the day our best understanding of the situation, based on imperfect data.
I think that might be some of the confusion. Monty's rabid commentary aside, it's usually assumed when talking about any scientific conclusions that they are all theories. Hell, even tho gravity is very accepted and taken for granted, it is still a theory.
Your description of a theory is a really a hypothesis. A scientific conclusion is just one of many steps in the scientific process. A theory is an observable phenomenon that has a large body of evidence that supports said hypothesis and rejects many of the alternate hypotheses. A key element of a theory is the reproduction of experimental data using a highly related (preferably the same) procedure, which is a significant flaw in HIGCC. Since HIGCC data uses sophsicated computer models that predict (which is a major flaw since using predictive models require assumptions), it's nearly impossible to reproduce results. It's also difficult to reproduce temperature results since the variability (an element to avoid in scientific research) is great. Another great flaw of HIGCC is that it's difficult to observe. You can certainly observe climate change, but concluding it's due to humans would require more evidence that's hard to obtain due to the number of variables in an open environment, such as the Earth.
Gravitation is a theory, but the force of gravity is not. Gravity exists. It could cease to exist tomorrow or it may be a combination of other forces as we may find later. Both theories and laws embody gravitation. By the way, just because something is a theory doesn't make it any less true than a scientific law. A scientific law is just a way to describe a mechanism, generally through mathematical principles but it could also be verbal, that must apply under the same conditions everytime. Also, instead of using deductive reasoning as you do with theories, laws require inductive reasoning, which is why they're often backed by mathematical proofs. Laws can be disproven as well and indeed they have been or limited to certain conditions only. For instance, many of Newton's Laws have been limited to certain conditions, such as low gravitation, at low velocities, etc.
I think I just wasn't as clear in my post as I should have been. I don't actually describe what a theory is other than to call what we define as gravity as a theory. What I meant by that is that while the observable effects of "gravity" are there and very repeatable, our definition of "gravity" is a theory. i.e. this is how we think it works, etc. As you point out, we may figure out tomorrow that our understanding of gravity is flawed, or comprised of other things. Much like Newton's Laws have been refined and found to be incomplete or only true within certain circumstances.