Not even wrong

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A scientific concept is said to be not even wrong if it is not falsifiable in the Popperian sense, or if it is not well-enough formed to be used to make specific predictions about the physical world. The phrase was coined by the early quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or sloppy thinking.

Statements that are not even wrong may be well-formed but not refer to anything physical (as in "Souls are immortal", because the noun "soul" is not well-defined in terms of experimental results), or may be mere word salad that appears to be devoid of meaning (as in some of the Time Cube writings).

The phrase "not even wrong" is often used to describe pseudoscience. It is considered mildly derogatory.

[edit] Pauli's putdown

... a friend showed him the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli's views. Pauli remarked sadly 'It is not even wrong.'

Rudolf Peierls, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 5 (Feb. 1960), 174-192