fc%usc-cse%USC-ECL%MARYLAND@sri-unix.UUCP (12/15/83)
redictions tested with
some sort of experiment, the crudity of the statistics is similar to
the statistical models of physics used before it was advanced to its
current state. Computer science (or whatever you call it) is also a
science in the sense that our understanding of computers is based on
prediction and experimentation. Anyone that says you don't experiment
with a computer hasn't tried it.
The big question is whether mathematics is a science. I guess
it is, but somehow any system in which you only falsify or verify based
on the assumptions you made leaves me a bit concerned. Of course we are
context bound in any other science, and can't often see the forest for
the trees, but on the other hand, accidental discovery based on
experiments with results which are unpredictable under the current theory
is not really possible in a purely mathematical system.
History is probably not a science in the above sense because,
although there are hypotheses with possible falsification, there is
little chance of performing an experiment in the past. Archeological
findings may be thought of as an experiment of the past, but I think
this sort of experiment is of quite a different nature than those that
are performed in other areas I call science. Archeology by the way is
probably a science in the sense of my definition not because of the
ability to test hypotheses about the past through experimental
diggings, but because of its constant development and experimental
testing of theory in regards to the way nature changes things over time.
The ability to determine the type of wood burned in an ancient fire and
the year in which it was burned is based on the scientific process that
archeologists use.
Fred