Oh, poor misguided Dad. You don't understand what falsifiable means, do you?
It doesn't mean that it can be wrong. Gravity could be wrong, after all. All we need is a single instance where someone drops a hammer and it doesn't fall. That would prove gravity wrong, because the theory and laws of gravity have no way to account for this.
If something is falsifiable, it means that there is, in principle, some way to show that it is wrong. it doesn't mean that it actually IS wrong. It just means that you can say, "If such-and-such happens, then X is wrong."
For example, the famous "crocoduck" would prove evolution wrong, because evolution has no way at all to explain how it could exist. A dropped hammer that remains hanging in midair instead of falling would prove gravity wrong because gravitational theory can't explain how it could occur.
Something MUST be falsifiable in order for it to be considered science.
But your idea of a different state past is NOT falsifiable. There is nothing that could prove it wrong.
Remember that scene from Terminator 2, where the doctor is explaining Sarah Conner's case to those visitors, and they're all having a good chuckle? He finds it funny because Sarah's account of what happened is unfalsifiable. Unfalsifiable because she can explain anything away. She was attacked by a killer robot from the future? It doesn't look like a robot. Oh, that's because it was covered in a layer of flesh so it looks Human. What you are doing is the same thing.
You see, without any way to show that your idea is wrong - even in principle - there is no way to test it. And what good is an idea that can't be tested? it is only things that can be tested that can be shown to be true.
After all, I could claim that there is a family of fairies that live in my wardrobe, but every time I open the door they vanish, only to reappear when I close the door again. I know they are there because my socks keep disappearing. Of course, there's no way to falsify this claim. Why don't they steal my shoes? My shoes are too heavy. How can they vanish so quickly, even if I sneak up very quietly and open the door really fast? Oh, they're magical so they can tell when I approach, no matter how stealthy I am. Why don't you put a video camera in there to film them? They won't show up, because the magical powers they have render them invisible to cameras of all sorts.
it's ridiculous, isn't it? There's no way to test this claim. There's no way to prove that it is wrong. And the same applies to your different state past.
You see, the fact that something is falsifiable is important. If something can in principle be proven wrong and yet resists all attempts to prove it wrong, it shows that the theory is strong. If we constantly try to find something that evolution says is impossible, but can't, then it shows that evolution is correct. If we constantly try to get hammers to behave as though gravity doesn't work the way we think, but fail, then it shows that gravity DOES work the way we think.
And if your idea of a different state past is falsifiable, then explain how it is. Tell us something that would prove your theory wrong, like the crocoduck for evolution, or floating hammers fro gravity. And then we'll see if we find it in reality.
Upvote
0
Anyone that is emotionally attached to a specific "creation date" of the universe or of Earth tends to cling to those beliefs quite tightly in my experience. No amount of logic or common sense seems to make a dent in their opinions in my experience.
