One might say that practical application is another form of prediction.

I was going to expound on Chaos Theory and uncertainty in Quantum Physics but lost the dissertation.  Basically, Einstein said, "God does not play dice."  And I said, "God is a gamblin' addict."  Between these two theories, we have a very unpredictable universe at hand - unlike those nice stable laws and theories of centuries past.  This is one reason that I see theories becoming more difficult to obtain from hypotheses - theories require predictable results whether from designed experiments or practical application.

Every good theory changes reality.  When Galileo showed that objects fall at the same rate - accelerating at a particular one nonetheless, he changed an entire Aristotlean world-view that was completely wrong.  What was the show called?  "The Day the Universe Changed" with James Burke.  Sums it up nicely.  A theory that doesn't change the universe is a minor one indeed. :tongue2:

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.

 -- Bjarne Stroustrup

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