• asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Inability to replicate results does not disprove anything. Ability to replicate results does prove something.

    The production of LK-99 is not so refined to be consistent, so results will vary.

    • BiNonBi@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      That’s not how science generally works. It’s not up to others to disprove your results. It’s up to you to prove results to them.

      You generally do this by very carefully explaining what you did and what the results where. Then others can follow your instructions and get the same results.

      If they don’t get the same results you haven’t proven anything.

      • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Nobody said these researchers have proven anything. It is how science works because it’s how logic works.

        Inability to prove something doesn’t mean it has been disproven. All it means is that it has not been proven.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You are turning things on their head.

          If the claim can’t be replicated. it lacks evidence/proof.

          Without evidence the claim is baseless. It does not have to be disproved to be considered baseless.

          Ergo lack of poof is consequentially the same as being disproved in the long run. The claim is considered false.

          This happens all the time, for instance the cold fusion claim in 1989, was never disproved, but it couldn’t be replicated. So it is now considered false, ergo the result is similar to being disproved, because there is no evidence it is considered false.

          • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            As I said, at this point nothing has been proven or disproven, so you’re agreeing with me that the claim is baseless.

            However, lack of proof is not the same thing as being disproven at all. Disproven means it has been proven to not be true.

            If I make a claim and say that it’s possible to combine flour, eggs, and milk and bake for some period of time to get a cake, that is true. At this point it has not been proven or disproven by anyone.

            If you try to replicate my result and use 5 lbs of buckwheat flour, 1 egg, and 2 gallons of milk, it will not result in a cake. That does not mean you have disproven my claim. It means your replication failed. There are countless ways mess up baking a cake. We’re talking about quantum mechanics here and the precision of an oven.

            If one other person tries it and succeeds in a cake being created, that does prove my claim to be true.

            The issue here is that the process for making LK-99 is not deterministic at this point. Disproven means proof that it’s wrong. Lack of proof means, well… lack of proof.

            • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              lack of proof is not the same thing as being disproven at all.

              Yes it is, lack of proof makes the claim baseless, the default for a baseless claim is to consider it false. Ergo the result is the same as if it actually was disproved.

              But that’s not the problem here, you are reversing the burden of proof. The burden of proof is always with the one who has the claim. If he is not able to describe a process where the results can be replicated, it will ultimately after enough trials, be considered a false claim.

              There is nothing in that process about actively disproving the claim.

              • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                the default for a baseless claim is to consider it false

                This is not correct.

                https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy)

                One way in which one would attempt to shift the burden of proof is by committing a logical fallacy known as the argument from ignorance. It occurs when either a proposition is assumed to be true because it has not yet been proven false or a proposition is assumed to be false because it has not yet been proven true.

                You are committing this logical fallacy.

                • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  what may be asserted without evidence, may be dismissed without evidence

                  That’s the same as considering a baseless claim false because it has no evidence.

                  You are committing this logical fallacy.

                  No you are making the mistake of comparing a “proposition” with a scientific claim that has been examined. Also you are making the mistake of using semantics to discard the scientific method. What you are arguing would in science be the same as claiming a hypothesis false without examination. That would be an argument from ignorance.

                  Not all claims are equal, there’s a difference between a scientific claim and saying I had cereal for breakfast. Questioning an everyday personal experience is very different from questioning a scientific claim without evidence.

      • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s extremely hard to disprove things in general as opposed to proving them, unless you’re dealing with math or logic.

      • klay@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Basically, repeat the experiment under a wide range of conditions, and show that the conditions for success, if any, are far beyond the original claim. I always loved the ‘mythbusters’ approach: if one bible can’t stop a bullet, how about two bibles? ten? where is the cutoff between true and false?