This is more evidence that it is not a scientific theory. No genuine scientist would confuse a scientific theory with a fact. Only historians use the term fact, yet they are still usually honest enough to admit that there is uncertainty.
Quote:Fact is often used by scientists to refer to experimental data or objective verifiable observations. "
This is a tricky one, as you cannot separate a fact from the paradigm through which you interpret your obervations. That is why scientists try to avoid the term, as it implies an objectivity which is illusionary.
Quote:"Fact" is also used in a wider sense to mean any hypothesis for which there is overwhelming evidence.
That is just plain wrong. That is what the terms theory and law are for. Note that evolution is not regarded as a law, even by those who mistake it for science. A law is what a theory becomes as it gains broader acceptance.
Quote:There is no sharp line between speculation, hypothesis, theory, principle, and fact, but only a difference along a sliding scale, in the degree of probability of the idea.
This is getting out of science into the general meaning of the words.
Quote:Philosophers of science argue that we do not know anything with absolute certainty: even direct observations may be "theory laden" and depend on assumptions about our senses and the measuring instruments used. In this sense all facts are provisional.
That is putting it mildly. To put it more accurately, all of science - hypotheses, theories and laws - is almost certainly wrong, and will be disproved at some time in the future. This is why science is so powerful, because it inevitably discards our knowledge as being wrong.
Quote:In science, the meaning of theory is more rigorous: a theory must be based on observed facts and make testable predictions.
Again, he gets it wrong. Basically, hypotheses, theories and law are separated by the degree of consensus. To insert terms like fact discards the reality of science.
Quote:That is, there have been no observations made which contradict it
Not necessarily true.
Quote:every observation ever made either supports the current theory or at least does not falsify it
Wrong. Thomas Kuhn goes into some detail of how the reality of science differs significantly from this ideal.
Quote:It is probably the most accepted scientific concept on the planet today amongst scientists and the common man both.
Wrong. There are plenty of polls to disprove your claim. In any case, argumentum ad populum is a logical fallacy.