•  aname   ( @lauha@lemmy.one ) 
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    231 month ago

    Theory meaning “unproven assumption” is one of the definitions in Merriam-Webster so it is not a new definition.

    You’re just angry word means something you don’t want it to mean. Just like the literally-figuratively crowd.

    • I think anyone who uses the word “literally” to mean anything other than “in a literal sense” is a moron who never actually thinks about what the words coming out of their mouth mean, and I always will.

      • You hate on people that use literally this way, but you do the same thing yourself…

        Moron is a term once used in psychology and psychiatry to denote mild intellectual disability. The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement. Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term. It is similar to imbecile and idiot.

        Wikipedia

        But unless the people that use “literally” in the colloquial sense you are actually using a term that is tied to eugenics and the idea that disabled people are inferior. Maybe you should have thought about the words that come out of mouth?

    •  unalivejoy   ( @joyjoy@lemm.ee ) 
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      41 month ago

      To be perfectly fair, you can’t “prove” or “disprove” a theory. You can only discover new evidence that supports the theory or another competing theory. Multiple competing theories can be equally accepted as correct.

      • The issue is people using exactly that definition to reject science. We also have a theory of gravity, but gravity itself is an observation. Evolution should be too, regardless of our theories about it.

        Also, String Theory isn’t doing anyone any favors.