Inference and its role in NS (General)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Sunday, January 16, 2011, 17:48 (5058 days ago) @ David Turell


> > This post is about the role of inference in phylogeny. It discusses something called the "grue" problem. If you read the article, it explains this problem well. 
> > 1. Science is ONLY about model building. (Though scientists and the general public tend to forget this...) 
> > 
> > 2. Inference always inherits the problem of probabilities... meaning, that, science (using inference as its primary tool) is only every about probabilities, and that this means that though we would like them to be dogmatic, scientific "truths" are always approximations.
> 
> Another probability about NS is that competition may be a minor issue and land, air or sea 'space', when available, may allow for rapid diversification of species which is as the fossil record indicates. Dinosaurs died out and small mammals rapidly diversified:
> 
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11063939-I can't believe this is news...-There's an evolution simulator I've run in the past, and when an organism first jumps into an environment where it can flourish, it takes over rapidly. Differentiation then becomes an issue within the groups as resources become scarce; this usually leaves to dietary changes and/or exploration of new environments. Which makes sense--even among human beings we try to avoid combat (competition) as a first response and try other alternatives first. -This is a great article, but I honestly thought that this idea was clearly intuitive and well-explored...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"