Ok, it was Francis Bacon that wrote the rules, that clears that up, thanks.
I thought they already put on a "show" for the "show me state" I watched the show on the web with no commercials On Friday, August 2, 2013, Jed Rothwell wrote: > ChemE Stewart <[email protected] <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', > '[email protected]');>> wrote: > > "Everyone knows the rules" >> >> Jed, do you have a copy of the rule book I could borrow, or at least let >> me know what page to look on?... >> > > The rule is right here, plain as day: > > Nullius in verba > > http://royalsociety.org/about-us/history/ > > Chapter 1, paragraph 1, first sentence: Take nobody's word for it. > > As Francis Bacon put it in 1620: > > "For we admit nothing but as an eyewitness, or at least upon approved and > rigorously examined testimony; so that nothing is magnified into the > miraculous, but our reports are pure and unadulterated by fables and > absurdity. . . . In every new and rather delicate experiment, although to > us it may appear sure and satisfactory, we yet publish the method we > employed, that, by the discovery of every attendant circumstance, men may > perceive the possibly latent and inherent errors, and be roused to proofs > of a more certain and exact nature, if such there be. Lastly, we > intersperse the whole with advice, doubts, and cautions, casting out and > restraining, as it were, all phantoms by a sacred ceremony and exorcism. . > . ." > > That is the experimental method. There are no substitutes and no > shortcuts. A demonstration -- worthy as it may be -- is not a test, not an > experiment, and not a scientific paper. > > That has been the rule since the 17th century. It is the basis of the > scientific revolution. It is also the motto of the state of Missouri and > source of the Jeffersonian spirit at the University of Missouri. It's on > the license plates: "show me." > > - Jed > >
