The confirmations of novel predictions resulting from bold conjectures are very important in the falsificationist account of the growth of science. - Alan Chalmers

The aim of science is to falsify theories and to replace them by better theories, theories that demonstrate a greater ability to withstand tests.

It should be no news to anyone that the perceptual judgements of individuals can be unreliable for a range of reasons. The challenge, in science, is to arrange the observable situation in such a way that the reliance on such judgements is minimised if not eliminated.

The greater the number of conjectured theories that are confronted by the realities of the world, and the more speculative those conjectures are, the greater will be the chances of major advances in science.