Perry E. Metzger, <perry@piermont.com>, writes:
> The method of science says that when you have a hypothesis, you should
> be able to demonstrate its validity by experimentation. Well, just
> show me an experiment. No need for any justifications at all -- we'll
> treat your equations as a black box handed down from heaven. All I
> want is one experiment. Surely if your theory is good you've tested
> it, have you not?
Robin's paper was about agents spreading across the galaxy. He was
speculating about behavior given a technology which we have not yet
achieved. How could he have tested that? The only real test will
involve waiting a few thousand years to see what our descendents do.
It seems fair to ask for evidence on how well this overall approach to
modelling has succeeded in the past. Robin has provided some references
which may do this, but I suspect that it would require significant effort
to become familiar with the relevant research.
Hal
Received on Fri May 1 21:56:40 1998
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Mar 07 2006 - 14:45:30 PST