• howrar@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    How can you test/falsify the existence of something you can’t interact with in any way?

    • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Most likely you couldn’t. But sometimes you can be aware of something (X) simply by seeing the effect it has on other things, even if you can’t directly observe X. Think of Pluto, dark matter and dark energy; didn’t/don’t know what it is, but we know something is there.

      My original comment was pointing out that a scientific theory is a framework that takes into account all the data. So something that is untestable and unfalsifiable definitionally could not be a theory. You’d be in hypothesis territory at best, but likely just conjecture.

      • howrar@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Right, thanks for the clarification. Although in this context, the “theory” in question is the existence of alternate universes, so the most logical interpretation of your comment is that it is possible to test for the existence of an alternate universe.