Gathering and Discerning Information in the 21st Century
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“Each of us believes himself to live directly within the world that surrounds him, to sense its objects and events precisely, and to live in real and current time. I assert these are perceptual illusions. Sensation is an abstraction, not a replication of the real world.” Vernon Mountcastle

Quote from YouTube Video: Kavli Prize Laureate Lecture – The Restless Brain

Science-fact-theory-hypothesis

Definitions key to discussions:

  • Fact: A fact is a statement that is true and can be proved with evidence.
  • Hypothesis: A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon that can be tested by the scientific method. A hypothesis has not been tested.
  • Theory: Scientific theories are distinguished from hypotheses, which are empirically testable conjectures, and from scientific laws, which are descriptive accounts of how nature behaves under certain conditions. Theories have been rigorously tested and widely accepted by the scientific community who agree the theory best explains the observations or phenomenon we experience.
  • Scientific Method: The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.
  • Empirical Evidence: Empirical evidence is the knowledge received by means of the senses, particularly by observation and experimentation.
  • Reality: Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.
  • Delusion: A delusion is a belief that is held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary.
  • Insanity: Insanity, craziness, or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns.