This is one of the problems with a falsificationist idea of scientific progress, where we never prove theories true but make progress by proving them false. If evidence against a theory appears (e.g. the ability to see different stars from different parts of the earth might be thought of as “refuting” the idea of a flat earth), a proponent of that theory never has to give up on it. They can just patch the theory. Maybe light does a special little dance to make all the observations look like we’re looking out at a universe, etc. If you try to refute someone, they can just refuse to be refuted and add another patch to their theory.
Criticism is a much wider concept than falsification. You can criticise a theory for having too many patches to work around apparent problems.
Criticism is a much wider concept than falsification. You can criticise a theory for having too many patches to work around apparent problems.