Word for the Day for Monday, November 24, 2008

The Word for Today is Experimentation.

The simplest phrase I can think of for this word is, "to try it out", where "it" is what you are attempting to figure out. Now last time I encountered this word, I got personal. This time, I take a look at what Wikipedia says about this. In particular, they have a variation of what I put above, "to try out", leaving the word, "it," out of the picture.

Where I take issue with this article is where they attempt to define a valid verses invalid experiment. (See how they belittle "field experiments", for example). The issue appears to be whether an experiment produces "concrete results". (What is a concrete result?) When experimenting with your own consciousness (which I do all the time, as I describe elsewhere), it is hard to come up with a result that another person would be able to perceive, let alone accept.

This should not stop your consciousness experiments (for example, dream recall with a Journal).