Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA16365 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 22 Mar 2001 18:12:49 GMT Message-ID: <3ABA3FE8.436DB96F@bioinf.man.ac.uk> Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 18:09:44 +0000 From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk> Organization: University of Manchester X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: The Demise of a Meme References: <3AB9E81B.6216.29FED2@localhost> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Observation does precede theory, for theory is not imposed upon
> observation so much as it is drawn from a generalization of the
> obseved's apparent characteristics, as an explanation of them,
> which is then checked against the not-yet-observed within the
> class to see if it still holds. If the theory remains valid, then its
> consequences are deduced, and these are tested. If it still holds
> through repeated trials under controlled conditions intended to filter
> out rogue variables, then the theory is (provisionally) accepted.
Bingo. Very succint. Couldn't agree more. It's all about boiling out
what is generic (at least in biology - I think it's a little different
for physicists after GUTs).
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Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
http://bioinf.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
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