Releasers - Anne Kilmer couldn't possibly be more wrong!

[Stanley A. Gorodenski]

Actually, I think the person who said biology is not science because it cannot
be reduced to numbers and equations was probably engaged in physical science
snobbery. There is an attitude amongst many that those in the physical sciences
are more intelligent than anyone in any of the other disciplines, probably
because it is so mathematical. There were some results of a survey that
appeared in Science about 3-6 years ago or so that confirmed this general view
of where physical scientists stand on the intelligence scale. They were at the
top, but my opinion the reality is that it is reversed <g>. I think those in
the biological sciences, on average, are more intelligent than those, on
average, in the physical sciences. Physical scientist like to think in absolute
terms. It is uncomfortable for them to have to interject uncertainty. Even
Einstein, allegedly the greatest scientist of our time, had great difficulty
accepting quantum mechanics. Therefore, we can probably safely ignore this
other person's opinion as the mutterings of a dull (physical scientist)
peasant, figuratively speaking  <g>.
Stan

Bob Kriegel wrote:

>
> And as for mathematics and biology, don't get me going.  Biology as a
> science relies heavily on mathematics from statistics, cladistics and
> modeling to Bayesian hierarchical inheritance systems and Markov chains to
> geographical information systems, intensive data-mining used in genomics
> and on and on and on.  "But they deal with probabilities not absolute
> laws".  Biology studies life and life is a fleeting series of [often
> independent] probabilities, chum.  Fractals and chaos theory teach us that
> what appears absolute on one level of abstraction is often only partially
> ordered when viewed from a different level of abstraction.  And if you
> think such realities only apply to biology and not hard sciences like
> chemistry or physics, I suggest you try modeling the conformation of
> molecules in a chemical reaction or seriously consider the Heisenberg
> uncertainty principle.
>
> Life is a balance.  And balance is a process, a question without an
> absolute answer -- get used to it.
>
> Ahhh, I feel much better now.  By the way, for anyone who is interested,
> and is in northern climes I have a new predictor this spring.  If you are
> searching for Erebia discoidalis, try targeting your sampling efforts
> between 150-200 degree days base 50F.  I know its not much of a window, but
> that's biology.
>
> Bob Kriegel
> Bath, Michigan
>
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>    For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
>
>    http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
>


 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl