Guest guest Posted August 5, 2003 Report Share Posted August 5, 2003 Jason, That's why so many of my friends in the sciences regard science as a mythos. The realms to which you can apply the myopia of measurement at any given moment are few indeed. The circle of conscious intent gets ever smaller ... as the machines get ever more precise. Also recall all you fellow lab workers out there that accuracy and precision have little to do with one another. That's what we all learned in our first years of being science majors at universities across America. Getting precisely (very precisely) the wrong answer is the norm, not the exception. It takes a ton of repetition and iteration to get a sufficient body of evidence to draw a curve and "estimate" what the right answer is ... or which way the wind blows ... or whatever. Now I'm the science instructor that could choose to make all of my little lab drones drone on. Instead I choose more interesting ways to train my students ... the pathway less dense with data. Emmanuel Segmen - Jason Robertson Tuesday, August 05, 2003 10:06 AM Re: Re: Kendall In an interesting example of synchronicity, I was just speaking with Ken Rose today about exactly this quote from Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Even though we're all sitting at computers at various corners of the earth, there seem to be other connections that occasionally happen. In fact, reading this quote got me started on the thought pattern that generated my previous post. apologies for the triple-posting. JDR As Robert Pirsig stated:"If the purpose of scientific method is to select from among a multitude of hypotheses, and if the number of hypotheses grows faster than experimental method can handle, then it is clear that all hypotheses can never be tested. If all hypotheses cannot be tested, then the results of any experiment are inconclusive and the entire scientific method falls short of its goal of establishing proven knowledge." Jason Robertson, L.Ac. Ju Er Hu Tong 19 Hao Yuan 223 Shi Beijing, Peoples Republic of China home-86-010-8405-0531cell- 86-010-13520155800 Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 , Jason Robertson <kentuckyginseng> wrote: > > > > As Robert Pirsig stated: > > " If the purpose of scientific method is to select from among a multitude of > hypotheses, and if the number of hypotheses grows faster than experimental > method can handle, then it is clear that all hypotheses can never be tested. > If all hypotheses cannot be tested, then the results of any experiment are > inconclusive and the entire scientific method falls short of its goal of > establishing proven knowledge. " > Amongst these infinite hypotheses there is always Descartes's ultimate hypothesesis that we are being deceived by God in everything we know as true. I dont think many scientists would see themselves as seeking to overcome those sort of obstacles to an ultimate foundation of knowledge so Pirsig's point only hits straw men. Simon > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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