Joe, The world expressed as a series of equations is an engineering concept not a scientific one. In order to be valid we must know all things about every variable of the proposition. Since we do not know, and perhaps can not know all things about every variable in a complex system, then our scientific understanding will be limited to only the most simple of things. That is one of the great failures of modern science, perhaps driven by our ability to manipulate numbers so well by computer, is the drive to quantify everything and to simply ignore things that can't be readily quantified. There is often the opinion that a bad quantification is better than no numbers at all. That is not true, if the the bad models resulting from bad quantification lead you to the wrong conclusions. We need to categorize things iteratively, but the arbitrary assignment of numbers to poorly understood phenomena doesn't help. Scientific understanding is based upon a logic structure that may contain equations, but does not need to be numerical to be scientific. Requiring a concept be an equation with may quantifiable variables limits the ability to investigate or to even understand many natural phenomena. Mathematical formulas and equations are a tool of scientific investigation, but are not themselves science, no more than a shovel is the same thing as a hole in the ground.
Ed "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both. " Robert Frost (1874-1963). Mountain Interval. 1920. ----- Original Message ----- From: Joseph Zorzin To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 4:18 PM Subject: [ENTS] Re: Rendezvous Report Joe PS: to me, the concept is an equation with many variables- each variable must be quantifiable including values not yet in the marketplace- while social and political values also plugged into the equation must be transparent. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
