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- 21,889
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi,
We have had a couple of threads recently in which some members have been arguing that certain scientific theories are rock solid and PROVE that their argument is RIGHT and that other people are WRONG.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of both science, and proof (and how to try and persuade other people around to your point of view).
With our current capacity to measure, investigate and analyse the universe around us, the belief in a scientific 'proof' is simply not certain.
Here are a few things which explain things better than I ever could.
Here is Einstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_scientific_proof:
The scientific theorist is not to be envied. For Nature, or more precisely experiment, is an inexorable and not very friendly judge of his work. It never says "Yes" to a theory. In the most favorable cases it says "Maybe", and in the great majority of cases simply "No". If an experiment agrees with a theory it means for the latter "Maybe", and if it does not agree it means "No". Probably every theory will someday experience its "No" - most theories, soon after conception.
and some other links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/11/22/scientific-proof-is-a-myth/#344677a22fb1
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...sconceptions-about-science-i-scientific-proof
So why start this thread? And what relevance to Diabetes?
Well, salt dissolves in water, doesn't it? Every school child KNOWS that.
- except when it doesn't (when the water is already saturated with salt, or when water is very low temperature solid ice, or in some strange circumstance in another corner of the universe, where different factors are present)
And insulin lowers blood glucose, doesn't it?
- well, except where blood glucose is rising faster than the insulin can lower it, or when there is sufficient insulin resistance to prevent the insulin lowering that blood glucose, or when the insulin is out of date or rendered inactive by heat...
And calories are a universal unit of energy
- please define 'universal'... and appreciate the different factors in play when assessing the difference between combusting foods in a lab, and the human body's myriad different processes may not result in that 'universal unit' having a consistent effect on the body.
And so on...
Anyway, this is basically a plea for people to stop arguing in absolutes, and to open their mind to the possibility that the FACTS that they hold so close to their hearts may work well as current working theories allowing for the specific circumstances in which the experiment was conducted, but they ain't by any stretch of the imagination universal PROOFS.
We have had a couple of threads recently in which some members have been arguing that certain scientific theories are rock solid and PROVE that their argument is RIGHT and that other people are WRONG.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of both science, and proof (and how to try and persuade other people around to your point of view).
With our current capacity to measure, investigate and analyse the universe around us, the belief in a scientific 'proof' is simply not certain.
Here are a few things which explain things better than I ever could.
Here is Einstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_evidence#Concept_of_scientific_proof:
The scientific theorist is not to be envied. For Nature, or more precisely experiment, is an inexorable and not very friendly judge of his work. It never says "Yes" to a theory. In the most favorable cases it says "Maybe", and in the great majority of cases simply "No". If an experiment agrees with a theory it means for the latter "Maybe", and if it does not agree it means "No". Probably every theory will someday experience its "No" - most theories, soon after conception.
and some other links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/11/22/scientific-proof-is-a-myth/#344677a22fb1
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...sconceptions-about-science-i-scientific-proof
So why start this thread? And what relevance to Diabetes?
Well, salt dissolves in water, doesn't it? Every school child KNOWS that.
- except when it doesn't (when the water is already saturated with salt, or when water is very low temperature solid ice, or in some strange circumstance in another corner of the universe, where different factors are present)
And insulin lowers blood glucose, doesn't it?
- well, except where blood glucose is rising faster than the insulin can lower it, or when there is sufficient insulin resistance to prevent the insulin lowering that blood glucose, or when the insulin is out of date or rendered inactive by heat...
And calories are a universal unit of energy
- please define 'universal'... and appreciate the different factors in play when assessing the difference between combusting foods in a lab, and the human body's myriad different processes may not result in that 'universal unit' having a consistent effect on the body.
And so on...
Anyway, this is basically a plea for people to stop arguing in absolutes, and to open their mind to the possibility that the FACTS that they hold so close to their hearts may work well as current working theories allowing for the specific circumstances in which the experiment was conducted, but they ain't by any stretch of the imagination universal PROOFS.