Dear Gabe, Hear Hear!
On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Gabriel Bodeen <gabebod...@gmail.com>wrote: > > On Monday, January 13, 2014 11:49:17 AM UTC-6, Edgar L. Owen wrote: >> >> Forget all other theories when you read mine and judge it only on its own >> merits... Don't shoehorn! >> > > FWIW, that's all well and good for mathematical and other formal > theories. You've been insistent on not formalizing your theories, though, > so it isn't possible to examine them on the basis of internal coherence -- > if they were wrong, there would be no way to falsify them using only > logical analysis. Instead we'd need scientific methods, and since humans > are extremely prone to lots of nasty cognitive biases like confirmation > bias and anchoring, we need to bring in some more careful tools. > > Specifically, when people are thinking about explanatory accounts and > models, then it's never sensible to forget all others and consider only one > on its merits. If we look at only one explanatory account, then whether it > fits poorly or exactly, we find that it still in some sense fits. Even if > it's definitely wrong we can't really falsify it that way. The way we can > avoid getting stuck on partial or less exact theories and move on toward > better theories, the rational way to do it, is to always be comparing the > relative merits of two or more theories at a time. That way we can > determine that theory A makes better predictions here, and theory B makes > better predictions there, and so on, until we can build them into a theory > that beats all the others that we know about given the current stock of > evidence. > > -Gabe > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/everything-list/TBc_y2MZV5c/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Kindest Regards, Stephen Paul King Senior Researcher Mobile: (864) 567-3099 stephe...@provensecure.com http://www.provensecure.us/ “This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may be constituted as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, notify sender immediately and delete this message immediately.” -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
