[dynomight]

This may be sloppy science, but sometimes discoveries happen in very sloppy and unpredictable ways.

[thanatosmin]

Definitely lots of exciting discoveries happen by accident--possibly most. But understanding what those discoveries actually are requires carefully designed experiments. In the absence of careful controls Occam's razor has to apply.

[dynomight]

Excuse me. Science only happens in precise and predictable ways.

[troymc]

Scientific discovery often happens by accident, i.e. unpredictably. And when you're not expecting to discover something, you're obviously not being precise about it.

A concrete example is the accidental discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. If you Google "accidental discovery" you'll find hundreds of other examples.

Or, if you prefer an Asimov quote:

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

[amelius]

I think that even the "Eureka!" type of discoveries may be labeled as accidental.

[dynomight]

What I can conclude for sure is that the upvoting/downvoting system is very imprecise, but engaging at the same time.

[coldtea]

Yeah, just not in the actual history of science. Take the discovery of LSD for one.