Entertaining the possibility and belief are two very different things.Entertaining the possibilty is something every scientist must be able to do in order to progress.
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Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob,
Mon 24 May 2010, 12:59,
archived)
But there're still some claims and sets of claims that don't merit being entertained.So I tend to agree with you - but there has to be a plausibility criterion. A scientist at CERN who entertained the possibility that mass arises because of a fight between red and blue pixies would be a strange creature indeed, just because there's no reason even to entertain the (merely logical) possibility.
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight,
Mon 24 May 2010, 13:11,
archived)
If he said red or blue quarks, it would be fine though, right?We come down once again to a matter of taste. And as you know, everyone except me has awful taste.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob,
Mon 24 May 2010, 13:14,
archived)
Well, provided he has independent evidence for the existence of quarks,can provide testable predictions, and so on, he can call them what the hell he likes. But that's not the same as picking any old toss from the back of his mind and insisting that we take the possibility seriously.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight,
Mon 24 May 2010, 13:18,
archived)