The scientific method
Science is a funny thing. Apparently opposed by many (New Agers?) these days, it has nevertheless delivered a great deal to a great many people. And this is not a science-bashing entry from me, either, just a consideration of what science and the scientific method is useful for.
In brief, the scientific method involves creating hypotheses to explain real-world phenomena, and then attempting to falsify them by experiment. To apply the scientific method, the hypothesis in question must be falsifiable. This means that, if the hypothesis is false, there will be an experiment we can do that will prove it to be false.
Only absolute statements like "all crows are black" can be proved to be false, in this example by observing a single crow that isn't black. The more general (and useful?) guideline "some crows are black" is not falsifiable, in practice.
[If you think about it, if "some crows are black" is false, then it must be the case that "no crows are black", for the original statement covers all other possibilities. Therefore, to prove the original hypothesis false, we would have to examine every crow that exists, every crow that has existed, and every crow that will exist, and show that not a single one of them is black. In practice, this statement is not falsifiable. We can also demonstrate this for other statements of this general (non-absolute) kind.]
Pattern-chaser
"Who cares, wins"
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