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NNadir

(36,170 posts)
9. Good science often, and perhaps most of the time, originates from speculation.
Fri Nov 10, 2023, 12:47 PM
Nov 2023

It is true that if speculation is based on math, extending even down to the crude back of the envelop level, it's generally more worthy of pursuit than if it merely springs from, say, wishful thinking, but without imagination there is no science.

I was never a giant Carl Sagan fan, but I do note that as a result of his advocacy for space exploration, particularly the useful kind involving robotic probes, we are collecting real data about the frequency of planetary systems, extending even down to some, if limited, information about their chemistry.

I often speculate that the origins of life are astrophysical since radiation/matter interactions possibly explain chemical asymmetry. This is certainly not provable or disprovable with current technology, but I think it a worthy speculation, and I believe it does at least involve science.

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