“The reason science has a fairly decent track record is that (in theory, at least) it starts from the sensible, self-deprecating assumption that most of our guesses about how the world works will be wrong. Science tries to edge its way in the general direction of being right, but it does that through a slow process of becoming progressively a bit less wrong. The way it's supposed to work is this: you have an idea about how the world might work, and in order to see if there's a chance it might be right, you try very hard to prove yourself wrong. If you fail to prove yourself wrong, you try to prove yourself wrong again, or prove yourself wrong another way. After a while you decide to tell the world that you've failed to prove yourself wrong, at which point everybody else tries to prove you wrong, as well. If they all fail to prove you wrong, then slowly people begin to accept that you might possibly be right, or at least less wrong than the alternatives.”