On Monday, May 14, 2018 at 5:11:04 PM UTC-5, Russell Standish wrote: > > On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 11:38:12AM -0700, [email protected] > <javascript:> wrote: > > > > *I see. So for Einstein an "inductive method" is indistinguishable from > > naive speculation. AG * > > > > Not at all. Inductive method is proposing new laws based on (lots of) > empirical evidence. If you always see B after A, then you might propose a > law > that A causes B. > > Conversely, Einstein was arguing that in modern theoretical science, > principles come first, only to be tested against experiment much later > by working out specific experiments to test the theory. > > BTW - with deep learning, AI is back in the inductive method phase :). >
Deductive reasoning is the stuff you learn in textbooks. Problems students solve in undergraduate and graduate texts are usually about taking known principles and working them or if there is a bit more it might involve generalizing these principles. Inductive reasoning involves recognizing some process and then thinking of some general principle. It is the opposite. Einstein realized that if he were watching a clock and accelerated to closer the speed of light that he would witness it tick time more slowly. He then abstracted the idea the speed of light was constant and space and time transformed. This is inductive reasoning. What Einstein is saying is there is no general method for doing this. It is not something that can be taught to student as a method, as can be done for deductive reasoning. LC -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
