The End of Theory

A place to discuss casual topics amongst spiritual friends.
Post Reply
Buckwheat
Posts: 970
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:39 am
Location: California USA

The End of Theory

Post by Buckwheat »

I find this article interesting:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... /pb_theory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"All models are wrong, but some are useful."... [I would quote more but I'm sure it is copyright, so follow the link, please.]
Now if we can direct this approach away from selling things and toward eliminating human suffering... ;)
Sotthī hontu nirantaraṃ - May you forever be well.
User avatar
Kim OHara
Posts: 5584
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:47 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: The End of Theory

Post by Kim OHara »

Hi, Buckwheat,
Yes, it's thought provoking all right. However, it's a few years old so I looked for results. I found http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/08/ ... -projects/, which tells us the project went ahead but doesn't say it has achieved much.

And as for applying it to the elimination of suffering, it boils down very quickly to pure behaviourism, as in, "We don't know or care what's actually happening inside you but we know that these actions and conditions lead to these results."

IMHO (I can be humble sometimes, if I try really hard :tongue: ), models are still the way to go, for most of us nearly all the time. They are the stories we tell to reduce messy, overwhelming reality to comprehensible summaries. Like the man said, all of them are wrong but some are (nevertheless) useful.

:namaste:
Kim
Post Reply