In science, the word theory has a very specific meaning. It refers to the best possible explanation for a collection of facts and observations; and then only after rigorous testing. Thus we have Germ Theory to explain certain types of disease; the Theory of Gravity to account for falling objects; the Theory of Evolution to explain the diversity of life on Earth; and countless others.
What it does not mean is ‘just an idea to explain something’. The word for an idea yet to be demonstrated is hypothesis. Of course, in every day speech theory does usually refer to a simple idea or notion without the need for any evidence or supporting data. I thought of this as I read this Daily Mail article about film maker George Clark who has released a YouTube video showing footage of the premiere in 1928 of Charlie Chaplin’s final silent film, “The Circus”. You can watch the clip on the Daily Telegraph’s website here.
The film shows a woman apparently talking into a mobile phone decades before the mobile phone was invented.
What amused me was this quotation from Mr Clark,
‘I have studied this film for over a year now – showing it to over 100 people and at a film festival, yet no one can give any explanation as to what she is doing.
‘My only theory – as well as many others – is simple… a time traveler on a mobile phone…’
Really? Your only theory? It is time to whip out Occam’s Razor and come up with some hypotheses of your own.
Leave a comment below providing a more plausible explanation for the footage than a time traveler.
This shouldn’t be difficult since nearly any suggestion is going to be more plausible than one that breaks all known laws of physics.
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