Talk:Prediction

I am under the belief that some people use some things like the bible for 'prediction'. Can we have a section on the page that covers that? -- Corpse in the bed (talk) 03:55, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Are you referring to Biblical prophecies? We do have a separate page on that.   05:13, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
 * wp:Bibliomancy (note that it's not limited to the Bible)? The Bible Code?--ZooGuard (talk) 10:04, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I also wasn't interested in only failed ones, I think it is safe to assume biblical prophecies occasionally come true, just like a Stopped clock is sometimes true. Unfortunately wp:Bibliomancy also covers 'medicine'. -- Corpse in the bed (talk) 22:14, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

''Hypotheses which are not able to make such testable predictions are frequently pseudoscience. Pseudoscience is almost universally characterized by the inability to make meaningful, specific predictions constructed from the core pseudoscientific theory''. What does 'frequently' and 'almost universally' mean here? Can someone give an example of an exception to the rule? Any theory, even a pseudoscientific theory - [which basically means just 'discredited'; I cannot imagine that 'methods' or 'principles' are able to derive by themselves new theories and advance knowledge. It's only in the light of knowledge already attained that we look upon previous ones in a darker light. Otherwise, as in the case of creationism or climate denial we could speak of a rational (i.e. goal-oriented; polemic, meant to advance social or political goals) effort to use formal logic in a way that tries to rationalize conclusions and impressions that do not logically follow but have to be distorted and raped; we could call it 'preferential, 'arbitrary' or 'revolutionary' logic] - makes 'predictions' i.e. it does indeed provide an explanation of the fabric of reality or at least the reality it is interested in interpreting bindingly and so does the same thing as 'scientific' theories. Established scientific rationality is the unexpected result of the collaborative efforts of individuals that didn't work in concert or harmoniously to deliver them, but who held different or diverging intents and views in which the most productive won out in a process akin to natural selection. So the most important thing is maybe not the 'scientific method' or theories about 'empiricism' but actual painstaking mental labor, productivity, extraneous environmental and societal stimuli that allow the scientific perception of reality to evolve and with it a sense of expertise (and the scientific perception of reality is merely but one perception of reality amid others that are non-scientific). Here's a question for all to consider: how are we to interpret the fact that Newton's theoretical synthesis of classical mechanics owed a lot to the traditions of hermeticism and occultism or 18th century mathematicians 'proving' that machines heavier than air cannot fly or scientific nationalism in the 20th century? As Americans how do the traditions of our society flow into our view of scientific reality and 'skepticism'? Do what extent are we a 'culture' or a 'cult'? Gewgtweg (talk) 13:44, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Distinctions
Pseudoscience prediction - 'The Wreck of the Titan', and the actual Titan - chance superficial coincidence of names and fates.

Scientific prediction - someone at the same time considering the new-fangled cinema and existing sound recording devices and deducing that sound-films will be developed. Anna Livia (talk) 15:54, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Suggestion
'A list of predictions by RW-ians.' Anna Livia (talk) 16:44, 14 February 2021 (UTC)