Falsifiability (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, December 19, 2014, 13:38 (3428 days ago) @ GateKeeper

Yup, that is pretty much what we mean, but here is why it is important. Research cost money. Even if the extent of the research is brainstorming and doing math on a whiteboard, you still pay for time. In the end, if other people are paying for something, there should, at the very least, be some reasonable expectation of benefit at the end of the tunnel. Something that can not be proven, can not be observed, and can not be proven false does not offer any promise of anything beneficial, and so it is a waste of time and money. String theory is one such example. Literally billions of dollars are given in funding in the U.S. alone for scientific research, and tens of millions (est $67 mil) go to theoretical physics. It's not small potatoes. For that much money, there needs to be at least the potential of something positive coming out of it.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.