Okay, now a final thought about an even deeper flaw in the language of quotation...
3. QUOTATION HAS TOO NARROW OF A DEFINTION OF "UNDERTAKING PROBLEMS"
Read the last part of Youden's quotation again: "The instrument makers continually devise improved instruments and the scientists continually undertake problems that require more and more accurate measurements."
Admittedly, since there is only a conjuction ("and") linking the instrument-makers and scientists, their respective activities, this statement alone provides absolutely no relationship between the two groups. But remember-- he previously describes their relationship as a contest: "There is a somewhat similar contest in science".
Since I established at the very beginning that this relationship is in NO WAY a contest, and since I don't want to put any words in his mouth, I'll take a minimalistic--and a I think fair--approach by reasoning that he accepts, at the very least that a simple dual inter-causal relationship exists (that is, an association of two actors where
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The obligatory response on behalf of YoudenchetwickFebruary 26 2007, 17:36:57 UTC
I haven't read the majority of your response. I'm going to read it all in detail and respond (hopefully) to all the points you make. I am altogether certain the vast majority of your analysis is correct, but I want to take a minute to try and spell out the context in which Youden is speaking.
This appears in the Note From the Author section of the text cited in the above quotation. The general flavor of the Note was to impress upon the mind of the reader the distinct and absolutely essential role that measurement has within the field of physics. Youden would not disagree with the assertion that Theory and Measurement are the two foundational sub-disciplines of physics.
The contest he is alluding to in physics is certainly capable (and in fact is in my experience) a highly political endeavor. One needs to have adequate power (money) to further techniques in measurement or theory (since these techniques are substantiated by the same process, namely experimentaton); insofar as scientists identify themselves as "theoretical" or "
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Okay, now a final thought about an even deeper flaw in the language of quotation...
3. QUOTATION HAS TOO NARROW OF A DEFINTION OF "UNDERTAKING PROBLEMS"
Read the last part of Youden's quotation again:
"The instrument makers continually devise improved instruments and the scientists continually undertake problems that require more and more accurate measurements."
Admittedly, since there is only a conjuction ("and") linking the instrument-makers and scientists, their respective activities, this statement alone provides absolutely no relationship between the two groups. But remember-- he previously describes their relationship as a contest: "There is a somewhat similar contest in science".
Since I established at the very beginning that this relationship is in NO WAY a contest, and since I don't want to put any words in his mouth, I'll take a minimalistic--and a I think fair--approach by reasoning that he accepts, at the very least that a simple dual inter-causal relationship exists (that is, an association of two actors where ( ... )
Reply
This appears in the Note From the Author section of the text cited in the above quotation. The general flavor of the Note was to impress upon the mind of the reader the distinct and absolutely essential role that measurement has within the field of physics. Youden would not disagree with the assertion that Theory and Measurement are the two foundational sub-disciplines of physics.
The contest he is alluding to in physics is certainly capable (and in fact is in my experience) a highly political endeavor. One needs to have adequate power (money) to further techniques in measurement or theory (since these techniques are substantiated by the same process, namely experimentaton); insofar as scientists identify themselves as "theoretical" or " ( ... )
Reply
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