Hi Colin

That seems to be a fundamental misinterpretation of what Maxwell actually
said (and being half Scot myself I feel obliged to defend him!).  To add
one more quote to the mix, that of Charles Petzold in his review of the
historical evidence for the claim of the creationists:

*Abstract:* Modern-day Christian creationists have claimed
nineteenth-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell as one of their
own. The author explores the historical evidence and discovers that
Maxwell's attitude toward evolution was more nuanced than people assume.
The characterization of Maxwell as an anti-Darwin creationist is based on
exaggerations, misinterpretations, and (probably most of all) wishful
thinking.

https://www.charlespetzold.com/etc/MaxwellMoleculesAndEvolution.html

Cheers

-- Ian


On Sun, 6 Nov 2022 at 20:13, Nave, Colin (DLSLtd,RAL,LSCI) <
[email protected]> wrote:

> All these quotes are great fun and worth keeping in mind, along with many
> others. I hadn’t realised that the creationists had adopted James Clark
> Maxwell as one of their own. However he didn’t go as far as one present day
> scientist who believes the earth is no more than 10,000 years old. Which
> discipline? Palaeontology of course. This person is not even some old
> fossil.
>
>
>
> I always liked George Box’s comments about models. I remember Eleanor
> Dodson saying, probably at some CCP4 refinement study weekend, that a
> structure obtained by protein crystallography was like a curate’s egg. She
> might have predated George Box with this thought.
>
>
>
> There should not  be any doubt that AF2 models are useful though. The
> question is how far their usefulness extends.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* CCP4 bulletin board <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Bryan
> Lepore
> *Sent:* 05 November 2022 17:03
> *To:* [email protected]
> *Subject:* Re: [ccp4bb] Another folding AI
>
>
>
> And of course,
>
>
>
> "... all models are approximations. Essentially, all models are wrong, but
> some are useful. However, the approximate nature of the model must always
> be borne in mind...."
>
>
>
> Box, G. E. P.; Draper, N. R. (1987)
>
> Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces
>
> John Wiley & Sons
>
>
>
> "Since all models are wrong the scientist must be alert to what is
> importantly wrong. It is inappropriate to be concerned about mice when
> there are tigers abroad."
>
>
>
> Box, George E. P. (1976)
>
> "Science and statistics"
> <http://www-sop.inria.fr/members/Ian.Jermyn/philosophy/writings/Boxonmaths.pdf>
>
> Journal of the American Statistical Association
> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_the_American_Statistical_Association>
>
> *71* (356): 791-799
>
> doi <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_(identifier)>:
> 10.1080/01621459.1976.10480949
> <https://doi.org/10.1080%2F01621459.1976.10480949>
>
>
>
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong
>
>
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