In physics it's absolutely true. You can only disprove theories. You can never p... | Hacker News

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TheOtherHobbes on March 19, 2018 | parent | context | favorite | on: Two weeks before death, Hawking submitted a paper ...

In physics it's absolutely true. You can only disprove theories. You can never prove them.

In math it's relatively true, because you can only prove theorems given a set of axioms and other assumptions you take as true.

davrosthedalek on March 19, 2018 [–]

In math, this is fine, as long as you can show that your assumptions are consistent.

If you disprove something in physics, you at the same time prove the negative of the something. Of course the negative of a theory is not really a theory by itself.

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