How to form a theory

it all starts with an observation. You noticed something behaving a certain way and nobody seems to have an explaination. (Either that or you didn't ask enough ppl)

You then start to think of an explaination for this observation. Nothing fancy. No math required either. Just a really simple idea, almost childish in its simplicity.


Next, you start wrapping your head around its implications. You begin to quantify the implications and formulate equations if possible. These quantified implications give predictions on what an output should be if you give certain inputs.

You start to share this theory with others and more often that not, it will be challenged. Heavily. But math doesn't lie. If you have the above-mentioned equations, other people can easily use them to calculate effects that can be checked against experiments or check if observations you could have had no influence on agree with the predictions from your theory. If you're lucky, the output is exactly what you predicted. People will try to come up with other theories that bring the same output. If their theory is simpler and more logical than yours and yet can make predictions to a high degree of accuracy, you have a problem. However, there is at least some consolation that you sparked off some new discovery even though you weren't correct to begin with.

If you're really lucky, everybody realizes that your theory is fundamentally simple, elegant and logical and yet can make amazing predictions. That's when you know you've got a quite powerful theory that is going to be more and more accepted.

Then some imbecile comes along and proves that your theory only works in 99% of cases. Your theory is defeated and you hopelessly argue that the 1% can be ignored, even though it goes against your morals as a champion of truth. After the initial frustration at being somewhat shamed subsides, you should calm down and realize that humans progressed only because they dared to question.

So you sit down with the imbecile, realize he/she isn't an imbecile at all, and try to find an even simpler explaination that somehow accounts for that missing 1%.

the funny thing is that one can never ever be sure that one has definitely covered all 100% of cases. Yet, greatness doesn't come from always being right. Rather it comes from being humble enough to realize he can miss out things and always makint an effort to be as thorough as possible.

Here's to Albert Einstein.

(P.S. Not all the details mentioned above relate to him, I just think he really is a good role model for trying to understand this universe we live in)