full transcript

From the Ted Talk by David Deutsch: A new way to explain explanation

Unscramble the Blue Letters


If the ancient Greeks had found out about seasons in Australia, they could have easily varied their myth to predict that. For instance, when Demeter's upset, she bnhasies heat from her vicinity into the other hemisphere, where it makes summer. So, being proved wrong by observation and caighnng their torehy accordingly still wouldn't have got the ancient Greeks one jot cloesr to understanding seasons, because their explanation was bad — easy to vary. And it's only when an explanation is good that it even matters whether it's testable. If the axis-tilt theory had been reeftud, its defenders would have had nowhere to go. No easily implemented change could make that tilt cause the same sesanos in both hemispheres.

Open Cloze


If the ancient Greeks had found out about seasons in Australia, they could have easily varied their myth to predict that. For instance, when Demeter's upset, she ________ heat from her vicinity into the other hemisphere, where it makes summer. So, being proved wrong by observation and ________ their ______ accordingly still wouldn't have got the ancient Greeks one jot ______ to understanding seasons, because their explanation was bad — easy to vary. And it's only when an explanation is good that it even matters whether it's testable. If the axis-tilt theory had been _______, its defenders would have had nowhere to go. No easily implemented change could make that tilt cause the same _______ in both hemispheres.

Solution


  1. refuted
  2. seasons
  3. banishes
  4. theory
  5. changing
  6. closer

Original Text


If the ancient Greeks had found out about seasons in Australia, they could have easily varied their myth to predict that. For instance, when Demeter's upset, she banishes heat from her vicinity into the other hemisphere, where it makes summer. So, being proved wrong by observation and changing their theory accordingly still wouldn't have got the ancient Greeks one jot closer to understanding seasons, because their explanation was bad — easy to vary. And it's only when an explanation is good that it even matters whether it's testable. If the axis-tilt theory had been refuted, its defenders would have had nowhere to go. No easily implemented change could make that tilt cause the same seasons in both hemispheres.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ancient greeks 3
physical world 2
scientific revolution 2
marriage contract 2
original myth 2


Important Words


  1. ancient
  2. australia
  3. bad
  4. banishes
  5. change
  6. changing
  7. closer
  8. defenders
  9. easily
  10. easy
  11. explanation
  12. good
  13. greeks
  14. heat
  15. hemisphere
  16. hemispheres
  17. implemented
  18. instance
  19. jot
  20. matters
  21. myth
  22. observation
  23. predict
  24. proved
  25. refuted
  26. seasons
  27. summer
  28. testable
  29. theory
  30. tilt
  31. understanding
  32. upset
  33. varied
  34. vary
  35. vicinity
  36. wrong