Moorad wrote: "Science is more than explanations. The overriding priority
in science is prediction. The present model of the solar system allowed
us to put a man on the moon. Such feat is based on the predictions that
our theory makes. In physics we used to call something phenomenology
when we would cook-up explanations for experimental data for which there
was no real theory. I think the theory of evolution is, at best,
phenomenology and does not have the credentials to be called a
full-fledged scientific theory."
As a onetime physicist, I'd agree with Moorad that PHYSICS has prediction
as an overriding priority. But not necessarily all science.
Dr. John Casti's book, Search for Certainty, is a very well written
discussion of the two "goals" of science, explanation and prediction. I
wrote a review on this book which appears on the ASA web site as well as
on my own web site (below). Moorad -- you need to read and understand
this approach to the scientific community. The review in a link on page
two, section 3. Casti also wrote Paradigms Lost, another excellent
discussion of these issues, and I have a link to a review of it also on
the website.
John Burgeson (Burgy)
(science/theology, quantum mechanics, baseball, ethics,
humor, cars, God's intervention into natural causation, etc.)
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