Text 1246, 105 rader
Skriven 2004-12-30 15:57:00 av John Edser (1:278/230)
Ärende: Re: McGinn's disproof of
================================




joe@removethispart.gs.washington.edu (Joe Felsenstein)wrote:-

>snip<
> I think the issue is not just skepticism but that they think that they are
> being terribly Popperian by requiring that models be a precise description
> of nature.  That requires them to reject all previous models in biology,
> where the models are much rougher than in, say, physics.  The Popperian
> framework of making a prediction from the model, then completely
> tossing out
> the model when the prediction is in any way wrong, doesn't work at all in
> population biology.  We have imprecise models and statistical evidence,
> rather than all-or-none predictions.
>snip<

JE:-
Prof. Felsenstein has misrepresented models as refutable theories.
He has done so before and continues to do so here, against all reason.
A model is not a theory and Popper does not require simplifications
/over simplifications  of theories used to make models to be refutable.
Popper requires the theory from which the model was derived using the
process of simplfication/over simplification to be refutable.
The Model is only supposed to help test the theory it was
simplified/oversimplifed from and NOT replace that theory. It
appears gene centric Neo Darwinism is dominated by mathematicians
who have no idea of what Godel proved about mathematics: it
is not a self consistent logical system, i.e. it is not
a refutable science.

Because Prof. Felsenstein refuses to differentiate between a
model and the theory it was simplified/over simplified from.
He allows models to compete and win against their parent theory.
Such an event only constitutes a scientific absurdity. Prof.
Felsensetin has always refused to discus the epistemological
difference between a model and a theory. He is not alone. Almost
every other gene centric Neo Darwinist that posts here refuses to
do so. This simple fact provides an on-the-face-of-it proof of
chronic model misuse within gene centic Neo Darwinism.


> JF:-
> We make models that are idealized, define things like fitness that are
> meaningful in those models, and then try to refine the models.  But some
> of the "skeptics" want definitions of things like fitness that
> will be able
> to work in the real world.  They don't realize that in doing this, they
> in effect erect their own not-quite-real models, but without
> being explicit
> about it.
> When a "skeptic" says that, by fitness I mean number
> of offspring
> per parent (or whatever), they implicitly simplify the situation
> by ignoring
> overlapping generations, and a bunch of other phenomena.
>

JE:-
Darwinian fitness can be exactly defined as the total
number of fertile forms reproduced into one population
by each parent. The fact that these total fitnesses are
not exactly in parallel does not matter. Each fitness
count is finite and exact. Every parental fitness,
after it has been completed is compared by default
to every other within one population. This can be
illustrated using intersecting sets of fitness.
What remains missing is an
exact measure of the heritability of such a
fitness count. Deleting genetic epistasis only
reduces and does not increase a measure of
its heritability.

Darwinian total fitness can be tested to refutation.
It is a fully fledged scientific theory that works
"in the real world", i.e. it is not just a model of
a theory that can only work in an unreal world.
I have outlined an experiment that can test a Darwinian
fitness total to refutation where such a basic requirement
remains a rather obvious demand of any Popperian umpire.
Does Prof. Felsenstein agree with the Popperian umpire or
does he prefer to shoot that umpire like most of his
colleagues?

Regards,

John Edser
Independent Researcher

PO Box 266
Church Pt
NSW 2105
Australia

edser@tpg.com.au

edser@tpg.com.au
---
ū RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info@bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2á˙* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 12/30/04 3:57:47 PM
 * Origin: MoonDog BBS, Brooklyn,NY, 718 692-2498, 1:278/230 (1:278/230)