*Science is the process through which we derive reliable predictive rules through controlled experimentation. ... What we now know as the scientific revolution was a repudiation of Aristotle: science, not as knowledge of the ultimate causes of things but as the production of reliable predictive rules through controlled experimentation. Galileo disproved Aristotles demonstration that heavier objects should fall faster than light ones by creating a subtle controlled experiment (contrary to legend, he did not simply drop two objects from the Tower of Pisa). What was so important about this Galileo Moment was not that Galileo was right and Aristotle wrong; what was so important was how Galileo proved Aristotle wrong: through experiment. ... Since most people think math and lab coats equal science, people call economics a science, even though almost nothing in economics is actually derived from controlled experiments. Then people get angry at economists when they dont predict impending financial crises, as if having tenure at a university endowed you with magical powers. ... People think that a study that uses statistical wizardry to show correlations between two things is scientific because it uses high school math and was done by someone in a university building, except that, correctly speaking, it is not. While it is a fact that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads, all else equal, to higher atmospheric temperatures, the idea that we can predict the impact of global warming — and anti-global warming policies! — 100 years from now is sheer lunacy. But because it is done using math by people with tenure, we are told it is science even though by definition it is impossible to run an experiment on the year 2114.*
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 17:07:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015