Every once in a while I run across somebody on the internet trying to explain the meaning of “law” and “theory” in science. Usually they say something about how a law states a relationship between quantities whereas a theory tries to explain it, or vice versa, or that a law is older than a theory, or how a law is supported by different kinds of observations, or some such thing. While I appreciate that people are making the effort to discredit the idea that evolution isn’t accepted because it’s “just a theory,” I really think they’re going about it the wrong way.

The real difference between a law and a theory is much simpler: there is none. They’re just labels. They don’t mean anything.

Yes. there are some ideas in science that are traditionally called laws, and some that are traditionally called theories. It’s mostly a historical accident which are which. There are also ideas that go by either label with roughly equal frequency, or “law” sometimes and “theory” other times depending on context, or on who you’re talking to, or on something else. The point is, there’s no consensus in the …