Re: Article: Model Selection and the Molecular Clock

"John Edser" <edser@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e4g2jt$2l8u$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


"Robert Karl Stonjek" rstonjek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:-

Copyright: C 2006 Oliver G. Pybus.
There are no mathematical equations in On the Origin of Species. A good
thing too, you might think, and it is undoubtedly true that Darwin's
clear
and flowing narrative style helped ensure the popularity of his writings.

JE:-
The words supply meaning. What the numbers provide is a measure of that
meaning. Science requires meaning to be objective, i.e. able to be
measured
(not just hand waving) so that it can be tested against nature. Thus
mathematics must work with and not against, _meaning_. This requires non
ambiguity which in turn requires at least one self exclusive assumption to
be allowed within the meaning. This will have the format: if you suppose A
then you cannot suppose B because they are contradictions of each other.
If
no contradiction exists within the meaning provided then "anything goes"
simply because no meaning was actually provided.

Just to say that:
For something (some analysis or experimentation)
to qualify as scientific, it does not necessarily have to involve
quantification. It can be enough if it is possible to observe
(sometimes from different angles) evidence for (or against)
the kinds of interactions or causes and effects that a
theory or hypothesis suggests is part of how What Is is.

P


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