5 Comments
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Maier, Charles S.'s avatar

A pleasure to read. Thanks.

Paula Rossi's avatar

Nice craft move. Explaining wrt your grandfather. Brings it home. You’ve got me wondering if science - with its laws and principles- is easier to interpret. Or just as hard?

The Rustbelt Reader's avatar

Economics has a a human behavior problem that can’t be neatly modeled.

Robert Emmett Dolan's avatar

Analogies group well with forecasts:

Over time, all can be shown to be incorrect, but nevertheless,some

are useful.

So what if I can’t hang a building on what appears to be a solid steel beam?

It still might be strong enough to support a plan of action;

at least for today.

Tomorrow may bring new insight, and another analogy.

Victor Rossi's avatar

It’s been said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The insight in this beautifully written reflection is the statement above: ‘Knowledge does not advance by being confirmed. It advances by surviving the attempt to kill it.’ Having attended many, many phd & masters dissertations, this is the essence of scientific inquiry. Can it survive the piercing questions that ensue? It always irksome when politicians (like Bernie Sanders) dismiss questions about climate forecasting (as an example) with statements like: ‘this is settled science’..