Fuwano Shouta  +  296274 Wed, 22 Nov 06 12:13 PM I just wanted to say that I don't think a child born with HIV could live long enough to pass it on to someone else, if said child was left untreated. But your other points are well taken. Fuwano Shouta Joined on Sat, Mar 25 2006 Pennsylvania, USA New Member 46

	nona the brit  +  296407 Wed, 22 Nov 06 06:51 PM True, but the scientific community uses hypothesis in a different way to the rest of us. You are thinking of 'hypothesis' = 'theory'. this is not so in scientific use. A hypothesis is a theory that has been taken and tested and challenged. By the time it is presented as a hypothesis, basically it is what science considers to be true. However, science will never state that anything is 100% definitely true - it can only say that something is true as far as we understand it today. Every piece of scientific knowledge and every scientific fact is called a hypothesis by scientists. Even the fact that the planets orbit the sun is called a scientific hypothesis. It's just scientific terminology. It in no way suggests that it is not accepted as truth by science. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Fuwano Shouta  +  296447 Wed, 22 Nov 06 09:19 PM I might also like to just give a tiny lesson on the Scientific Method. This is more or less what children learn in school. Define the question Gather information and resources Form hypothesis Perform experiment and collect data Analyze data Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypotheses Publish Results (or somehow make your findings known) While this is just one way to explain the scientific method, it clearly shows that a hypothesis doesn't mean much just as a hypothesis. Maybe it is being pedantic, but there it is. As to an earlier poster's point, My friend, what is true is that any link between the two exists only hypothetically. It is what's known as a scientific hypothesis. This is an inescapable fact upon which scientific community agrees. Are you seriously telling the scientific community that it is wrong? does anyone want to play "Spot the Logical Fallacy?" This is the same sort of argument used to "disprove" evolution. Might I use another ridiculous analogy and state, "That recently disharged gun only has a hypothetical relationship with my fresh bullet wound." Maybe I come off as condescending with some of this, but as it turns out, that is pretty much accurate. Fuwano Shouta Analogies