How do we know Einstein has it right?

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We constantly say that Einstein’s General and Special theories of relativity have passed many different tests, insenuating their accuracy.

Before Einsten, we tested Isaac Newton’s theories, which also passed with accuracy until Einstein came along.

What’s to say another Einstein/Newton comes along 200-300 years from now to dispute Einstein’s theories?

Is that even possible or are his theories grounded in certainty at this point?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

In general, we know science “has it right” in the three following steps. Step one, come up with a way to explain everything we know. Step two, based on whatever method you used, make a prediction about what we should expect to happen in an experiment we haven’t done yet. Step three, do that experiment and see if the prediction was true. A theory needs to be able to explain all known experimental results and have predictive power for unknown experimental results. If someone comes up with an experimental result, our theories can’t predict, we have to put more work in. Einsteins theory has high redictive power for the scope for which it was developed. However, at the cosmological scale we need to consider things like dark matter and dark energy, which we can’t really explain so far, and on the quantum scale, we don’t even know how to apply gravity so it is very likely that someone will come up with a new theory. But that theory will look like General Relativity on the scales Einstein considered, much like General Relativity looks like Newtonian Mechanics if the winkles in spacetime are small enough.

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