RE: Does atheism inspire people?
June 4, 2012 at 10:34 am
(This post was last modified: June 4, 2012 at 10:39 am by Anomalocaris.)
Actually, if something is in principle testable and falsifiable, then it doesn't need to mental masturbation. There is nothing wrong with advancing a conjecture, and specify how it can in principle be tested, even if the principle can't be put into practice immediately, and acknowledging it remains a mere conjecture until it can be tested, by which time it becomes a theory.
Mental masturbation occurs when a conjecture is given without thought to how even in principle it could be tested, or asserted to be true when no persuasive test for its truth is done, or asserted to be true in defiance of results of tests.
In principle, the perception of color, just like the wave length of light, is testable. In the extreme, one may catalogue all possible neurological states of the brain, and enumerate all states that correlate to mental determination of "green", and probe the brain for when such states occur. It can't be done now, but at least it is suggested how it can be done, thus giving the conjecture at least an avenue towards attainment of the status of a theory.
Mental masturbation occurs when a conjecture is given without thought to how even in principle it could be tested, or asserted to be true when no persuasive test for its truth is done, or asserted to be true in defiance of results of tests.
In principle, the perception of color, just like the wave length of light, is testable. In the extreme, one may catalogue all possible neurological states of the brain, and enumerate all states that correlate to mental determination of "green", and probe the brain for when such states occur. It can't be done now, but at least it is suggested how it can be done, thus giving the conjecture at least an avenue towards attainment of the status of a theory.
