It is easy enough to find a self-consistent theory provided that you are content to disregard half your evidence. The pursuit of truth requires an unflinching determination to take the whole truth into account. Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, 1925
By 1928 Physics was struggling with a big problem. The two most important theories that describe how the universe worked didn’t agree with each other. Jim Al-Khalili, Everything & Nothing: Nothing, BBC 2011
Hawking knew that every object in the universe could be heated up or cooled down. But black holes were different. Heat would never get out of a black hole it seemed. This started to niggle Hawking. But it would turn out to be the key to the mystery of creation ... But what Hawking had glimpsed was a point where the two [theories] must clash: at the very edge of a black hole. Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe, Channel 4 2008
A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: it must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations. Stephen Hawkins, A Brief History of Time p11
There are always going to be people who believe some outlandish theories, and the notion that we somehow were able to fake the lunar missions is pretty outlandish. Brian Welch, NASA spokesman
Man is so intelligent that he feels impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic. Aldous Huxley
It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. Douglas Adams
We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough. Niels Bohr
Every theory is a self-fulfilling prophecy that orders experience into the framework it provides. Ruth Hubbard
Theories usually result from the precipitate reasoning of an impatient mind which would like to be rid of phenomena and replace them with images, concepts, indeed often with mere words. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims
The invention of deliberately oversimplified theories is one of the major techniques of science, particularly of the ‘exact' sciences, which make extensive use of mathematical analysis. If a biophysicist can carefully employ simplified models of the cell and the cosmologist simplified models of the universe then we can reasonably expect that simplified games may prove to be useful models for more complicated conflicts. John Williams, The Complete Strategyst
A religious event. An extraterrestrial event. A higher dimension. We have many theories, few facts. Annihilation 2018 starring Natalie Portman & Jennifer Jason Leigh & Gina Rodriguez & Tessa Thompson & Tuva Novotny & Oscar Isac & Benedict Wong & Sonoya Mizuno & David Gyasi et al, director Alex Garland, Dr Ventress to Lena
In science, theories don’t get promoted to facts, facts are explained by theories. Irreducible Complexity Cut Down to Size, Youtube 31m, 2012
In reality you are actually in a giant planetarium. Behind the Curve, Mike Sargent, flat Earther, Netflix 2018
Flat Earth theory is actually getting pretty popular. ibid. WCIA television news report
The South Pole is like a 200-foot wall of ice straight up Game of Thrones style. ibid. Mike Sargent
There’s now Flat Earth dating sites popping up. ibid.
The greatest science fiction story ever told. ibid.
It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory will always be confirmed by experiment. Thomas Malthus
But when the scientists did this, the computers revealed something they hadn’t expected. One tiny change in their equations could have massive catastrophic consequences they couldn’t have predicted: it was called Chaos Theory. Chaos Theory had a very powerful influence in the West because it rose up at the very moment the Soviet Union was collapsing. And it seemed to explain why all attempts at revolution had led to disaster: the world was just too complex for human beings to change in a predictable way. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head VI: Are We a Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer? ***** BBCiplayer 2021
Complexity theory: Murray Gell-Mann: he believed that there were underlying patterns at every level of the universe, not just in the particles but in the way people think, and the structure in human societies … ‘And it’s fascinating to try and figure out what these laws are.’ ibid. Gell-Mann
Dominic Cummings worked as a political adviser for the Conservative Party, and he believed that all politicians, left and right, had completely lost touch with the people they claimed to represent … Cummings was fascinated by the founder of Complexity Theory … Cummings wanted to use data and computers to see the underlying patterns in modern society, and then use that knowledge to take power back from the unelected elites who had seized control. ibid.
The psychological theories that tell us we are weak and manipulable are cracking. And more and more people are beginning to realise that the fragmented emotions of anxiety and suspicion that they feel inside them may really be just the raw material for the technology corporations to feed off. It may be that we are really far stronger than we think. ibid.
Postmodern theory – nobody can explain it. Noam Chomsky, Youtube 2023, Omar Kamel podcast #1
2021: At the time of filming Kathleen Folbigg had spent 19 years in prison for murdering her four children. The Baby Killer Conspiracy s1e1: Kathy Folbigg, Reality 2024
Sarah is the third child to die at four and a half weeks. ibid.
Sally Clark: ‘The police officer says that there is evidence that Harry was unlawfully killed.’ ibid. comment
I never never shook him. He is just so precious. ibid. Sally Clark
It gets worse … He [pathologist] decides to go back to Christopher’s post-mortem, and he changes his mind. He decides his [Christopher’s] death wasn’t natural causes: he was smothered. ibid. comment
She [Sally Clark] was charged with the murder of Christopher and the murder of baby Harry. ibid.
Donna Anthony found guilty of killing her two children, smothering first Jordan, then a year later Michael. ibid. TV news
The star witness was Professor Roy Meadow. ibid. Comment
Kathy: Laura Elizabeth Folbigg, 1 year 8 months: The autopsy report was undetermined. ibid.
8 months after Kathleen loses her fourth child, a woman in Salisbury is arrested on suspicion of the murder of her 3 babies: Angela Cannings. ibid.
Meadow’s Law: One sudden death is a tragedy, two suspicious, three murder unless proven otherwise. ibid.
After 2 years, Sally Clark goes on trial for the murder of her babies, Christopher and Harry. ibid.
Sally Clark trial: Professor Meadow walked in as if her was the star of the show. ibid.
He [Professor Meadow] was convinced he was never wrong. ibid.
Sally Clark: The solicitor who was found guilty of murdering her two sons when they were babies was given two life sentences today. ibid.
Meadow’s Law: This was a very dark time for women. ibid.