Principle 01 of 06
The Falsifiability Principle
A well-formed hypothesis must be falsifiable: capable of being refuted by evidence. The ease with which an explanation can be dismissed — or not — is the mechanism that separates legitimate inquiry from paranoid thinking.
Most conspiratorial hypotheses, if false, are simple to explain away. This is not a reason to stop asking the question — it is the filter that makes the question worth asking.
Raise the hypothesis. Apply the simplest available documented explanation. If it holds — the question is answered and retired. If it doesn’t hold — that gap is where investigation begins.
The questions that survive the simple explanation are the ones that matter.
In practice
Before committing time to a hypothesis, ask: what would refute this? If the answer is “nothing,” the hypothesis is not yet investigative material. If the answer is concrete and specific, the hypothesis has the right shape — and now the work is to honestly look for that refuting evidence.