Ron,
That is true of all theories:
> The medical
theories from 100 years ago look pretty silly and I am
> pretty
sure that a lot of the medical theories of today will not
survive
> the next hundred years.
There is not a single theory of
science from 1911 that is completely true today without many
qualifications.
But with suitable qualification, we can use most of
them even today.
George Box, a professor of engineering, stated the
principle very clearly:
"All models are wrong, but some are
useful."
That statement with 'model' replaced by 'theory' is
also true of every branch of empirical science.
The only science for
which theories can remain true forever is mathematics -- and
that is only
because mathematics does not make any empirical claims.
John
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