How do you handle debates with non-scientists?
khafra: If you're trying to get someone to change his views by debate, it most likely won't work.  You'd probably do well to read up on influencing people, Dale Carnegie or NLP or something.  If you're trying to convince undecided, rational third parties, and your interlocutor is "playing fair," you could trying proceeding from a set of assumptions, getting agreement on each assumption, then presenting your conclusion as necessarily following.For example, say you're trying to convince someone that String Theory is bogus pop physics:Seertaak: "NonScientist, would you agree that a framework must make testable predictions to be considered a scientific theory?"NS: "Sure, yeah."Seertaak: "As you can see by these references I've just pulled up on my iPhone, many physicists agree that ST hasn't made any testable predictions, so until that changes it can't be considered a scientific theory."NS: "You were right all along, Seertaak! You're so smart!"