"We create models of reality and then insist that the models are reality. It is not that science, mathematics, and statistics do not provide useful information about the real world. The problem lies in making excessive claims for the validity of these methods and models and believing them to be absolutely certain." - William Byers, PhD
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Comments 41
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In any case, happy the 'but' never followed. :) Thanks for the bon mots.
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;)
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2.) Even the 'other fields' thought to be more certain, are bumping into the problem above.
And it's not even the magnitude of change that matters, as stated in the OP. Small changes can have as drastic an effect as big ones.
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What would "fantastic results" be?
We take in what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell, and try to make the best sense we can of it, but we never get to look at the world beyond sensation and into objective reality. We're not built for that.
So what we see doesn't exist? Are you saying that my thought is not a genuine phenomenon in the cosmos? How bizarre!
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:)
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The problem he, and you, describe is a constant problem people in a lot of other fields seem to miss though. You see it ALL THE TIME in physics, especially with quantum physics. People constantly mistake what makes the math work with what is actually happening.
It unfortunately happens a lot with conservation too. I get no end of it from my dad who is employed in fishing. The fishing stock assessment methods are fairly ludicrous and entirely based on baseless assumptions stuck in to a model. Hey, if the model says it, it must be true rig ht?
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