The Theory of Anything Episode 3: The Popper-Deutsch Solution
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Apr 30, 2020 How does science move forward, and what makes one explanation better than another? The conversation explores Karl Popper’s ideas as David Deutsch interprets them, from criticism and scientific progress to evolution and quantum mechanics. It also ventures into the unsettling possibilities of Many Worlds, why people resist unfamiliar theories, and what makes a story hard to change.
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Rational Progress in Science
- Scientific progress is driven by comparing theories and recognizing advancements towards truth, not necessarily attaining absolute truth.
- We know when we have a better theory, thus progress can be assessed rationally.
The Real Scientific Method
- The real scientific method starts with identifying problems, conjecturing explanations, and critically evaluating them.
- This applies to knowledge acquisition in general, not just science.
Survival of the Fittest Ideas
- The process of scientific progress, where the best explanations survive criticism, mirrors the principle of survival of the fittest.
- Biological evolution is a special case of this process, with knowledge embedded in genes.