Why would a false scientific theory keep making such accurate predictions?

Philosopher Hilary Putnam argued that the extraordinary predictive success of mature scientific theories — think GPS correcting for relativity, or vaccines engineered from germ theory — would be 'a miracle' if those theories weren't at least approximately true. The 'no miracles argument' is the central case for scientific realism: the best explanation for why science works so well is that it's latching onto how the world actually is, not merely producing useful fictions.

— Hilary Putnam, Mathematics, Matter and Method — Cambridge University Press, 1975