Query: The claim sea level isn’t rising is based on blatantly doctored graphs and conspiracy theories that are contradicted by empirical observational data.

Relevant passages:
Falsifiability <=SEP=> Falsifiability or refutability of a statement , hypothesis , or theory is the inherent possibility that it can be proven false . A statement is called falsifiable if it is possible to conceive of an observation or an argument which negates the statement in question . In this sense , falsify is synonymous with nullify , meaning to invalidate or `` show to be false '' .   For example , by the problem of induction , no number of confirming observations can verify a universal generalization , such as All swans are white , since it is logically possible to falsify it by observing a single black swan . Thus , the term falsifiability is sometimes synonymous to testability . Some statements , such as It will be raining here in one million years , are falsifiable in principle , but not in practice .   The concern with falsifiability gained attention by way of philosopher of science Karl Popper 's scientific epistemology `` falsificationism '' . Popper stresses the problem of demarcation -- distinguishing the scientific from the unscientific -- and makes falsifiability the demarcation criterion , such that what is unfalsifiable is classified as unscientific , and the practice of declaring an unfalsifiable theory to be scientifically true is pseudoscience .

Econometrics <=SEP=> Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data and is described as the branch of economics that aims to give empirical content to economic relations . More precisely , it is `` the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on the concurrent development of theory and observation , related by appropriate methods of inference . '' An introductory economics textbook describes econometrics as allowing economists `` to sift through mountains of data to extract simple relationships . '' The first known use of the term `` econometrics '' ( in cognate form ) was by Polish economist Paweł Ciompa in 1910 . Ragnar Frisch is credited with coining the term in the sense in which it is used today .   The basic tool for econometrics is the multiple linear regression model . Econometric theory uses statistical theory and mathematical statistics to evaluate and develop econometric methods . Econometricians try to find estimators that have desirable statistical properties including unbiasedness , efficiency , and consistency . Applied econometrics uses theoretical econometrics and real-world data for assessing economic theories , developing econometric models , analyzing economic history , and forecasting .

Science <=SEP=> Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe .   Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences , which study the material universe ; the social sciences , which study people and societies ; and the formal sciences , which study logic and mathematics . The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations . Disciplines which use science , like engineering and medicine , may also be considered to be applied sciences .   From classical antiquity through the 19th century , science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now , and in the Western world the term `` natural philosophy '' once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science , such as astronomy , medicine , and physics . However , during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics . While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air , earth , fire and water was more philosophical , medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials .   In the 17th and 18th centuries , scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws . Over the course of the 19th century , the word `` science '' became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world . It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology , chemistry , and physics reached their modern shapes . That same time period also included the origin of the terms `` scientist '' and `` scientific community '' , the founding of scientific institutions , and the increasing significance of their interactions with society and other aspects of culture .

Logical positivism <=SEP=> Logical positivism and logical empiricism , which together formed neopositivism , was a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was verificationism , a theory of knowledge which asserted that only statements verifiable through empirical observation are cognitively meaningful . The movement flourished in the 1920s and 1930s in several European centers .   Efforts to convert philosophy to this new `` scientific philosophy '' , shared with empirical sciences ' best examples , such as Einstein 's general theory of relativity , sought to prevent confusion rooted in unclear language and unverifiable claims .   The Berlin Circle and Vienna Circle -- groups of philosophers , scientists , and mathematicians in Berlin and Vienna -- propounded logical positivism , starting in the late 1920s .