The one-electron universe theory postulates that all electrons and positrons are actually a single entity moving back and forth in time.
A theory is a model for understanding how things work.
- In science a scientific theory is a well tested model with many facts pointing at it.
- In common language a “theory” can range from a guess to a philosophical concept.
TIP: Philosophy is a proper field of academia and there is a big difference between Plato’s theories and some haphazard guess. Still, in the sciences specifically, the term theory takes on a very ridged meaning.
Typically theories are easier to disprove than prove, if a theory works it’s used until a better one comes along.
Well worn theories are rarely “completely wrong”, rather they are typically missing a few nuances (good examples being: Alchemy -> Mendeleev’s periodic table -> Current period table; or Newtonian gravity as a force -> Einstein’s gravity as a byproduct of spacetime curvature; or Thompson’s model of an atom -> Rutherford’s -> Bohr’s -> Schrödinger’s). None of the aforementioned theories were completely off base. We didn’t go back and prove the old one wrong, we just replaced it with the new one. A theory can ultimately be true without our ability to prove it true, or false even if it seems to work over and over (for proof see Gödel’s incompleteness theory).
Below is a collection facts and myths related to theories of all types.
Factoids tagged with "Theories"
Generally speaking, a modest increase to the minimum wage will increase household spending and thus stimulate the economy. However, this can be offset by job loss or hour reduction, inflation, and other factors.
All collectives are comprised of individuals, and all individuals comprise collectives; thus we can never fully consider collectives without considering individuals, or vice versa.
Historically, Protestantism is like classical liberalism (individual liberties and rights) and Catholicism is like social liberalism (state enforced social justice).
The law of large numbers says, the more instances of a probable event that are considered, the more the theoretical and actual results converge.
All elementary particles exhibit wave-particle duality, acting as both a particle and a wave.
The standard model of particle physics shows how the elementary particles interact via the four forces to create the physical universe.
We can apply the concepts of theory, experimentation, and application to all the arts and sciences. For instance we have theoretical physics, experimental physics, and applied physics.
Most people have about 6 degrees of separation (small world theory), but not everyone has 6 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon or any other given person.
Multiple discovery is the hypothesis that many discoveries and inventions are made independently, and more or less simultaneously, by multiple people.
A Factoid is a brief piece of information that appears to be true, but isn’t necessarily factual or verified, yet is repeated as fact anyway.
Blog Posts tagged with "Theories"
There are a number of traps created from both taxation and assistance that inhibit class mobility. We might generally call these welfare traps, tax traps, and debt traps.
We present a simple self-help strategy to increase one’s feeling of fulfillment in their daily lives.
We present a basic theory of human knowledge to help illustrate some essentials of “what we can know” and “how we can know it.”
To avoid confusion and clarify semantics, one should speak “in terms of” a subject and “in relation to” another subject, and then explain their position from there.
We discuss “giving names to concepts” (defining terms), identifying with terms, be identified by terms, and the implications of this.
Principles are, in a broad sense, simply rule-sets which we follow. Below we will discuss the importance of different types of principles.
The concept of political correctness can be understood as an excess or deficiency of a few key virtues. Here is a model of “the virtues of political correctness” based on Aristotle’s virtue theory of means.
To understand the climate change debate, it is important to clarify some confusion regarding climate change denial and skepticism.
Reason is the application of “pure logic”, empirical evidence, experiment, and skepticism to find truths, facts, and theories (AKA “critical thinking”).
The four “elements” (or “powers”) that form the foundation of government can roughly be expressed as: citizens, executive, legislative, and judicial.
We often attribute the origin of the state of nature argument to Hobbes, but it can be traced to thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and the Sophists in the 300s BC, and is then mused on by other early philosophers.
We explain the Financial Crisis / Great Recession of 2007 – 2009 that began with the 2006 housing bubble, led to a recession in the U.S. by December 2007, and became a global crisis by 2009.
The state of nature is the state humans lived in before forming the first societies. By examining the state of nature we can better understand the implicit and explicit social contracts which govern societies.
In practice, human action often has paradoxical or unintended effects. Sometimes effects or side effects even have the exact opposite effect as intended.
We examine the historical effects of social, political, and economic inequality on society to see how it has led to social unrest and events like revolutions and populist uprisings.
Villains tend to have mustaches, not because facial hair is evil, but because despots style themselves after other despots.
“Hume’s fork” describes how we refer to Kant’s critique of Hume, who separated knowledge into two types: facts based on ideas and facts based on experience.
We explore the nature of truth, the different types of truth, and the different types of entities who report truth to better understand the nature of information.
Here is a list of the fundamental dualities relating to human nature and the physical and conceptual universe.
On this page, we look at political parties from a historical perspective to better understand the underlying left-right politics all political parties are based on.
We explain paradoxes related to tolerance and Politically Correctness (PC), including “the paradox of tolerance” and “tolerance as a form of intolerance.”
We explain economic inequality from a historical perspective, and then consider the effects of wealth inequality and income inequality in America today.
Conspiracy theories are sets of one more speculative hypotheses, backed by fallacious reasoning, that suppose a conspiracy.