[bip] Reproducible research

[Leighton Pritchard]

Hi,

On 09/03/2009 17:25, "Andrew Dalke" <dalke at dalkescientific.com> wrote:

> On Mar 9, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Leighton Pritchard wrote:
>> <pedant>
>> No - they're observations.  No observations are reproducible in a
>> strict
>> sense.  Observations play an important role in Science, but they
>> are not
>> Science.
>> </pedant>
> 
> Observations alone are meaningless.
> 
> Observations when used as tests of theory are science.

Absolutely - and they're also part of science when used to generate
hypotheses.  But in and of themselves, they are not science.  The framework
in which the observations are embedded is science.  I think we actually
agree on that point.

For example, I observe two mugs on my desk, but that is not science.
Assuming I don't want to do science with coffee mugs right now, of course ;)

> Are the following science?
>    - Eddington's observation of light deflection in the
>       eclipse of 1919 as a test of Einstein's general relativity
> 
>    - Observation of the muon, in conflict with the particle theory of
> 1936
> 
> (Can you infer my physics background here? :)

It's coming through, but only subtly ;)

> If these are not science, then what is science?

They're science in the same sense that a brick is a house.  If neither of
those two (particular) observations had been made, some other equivalent
observation, confirming or falsifying either theory could have been, just as
any brick in the building I sit could have been substituted for some other
brick.  The whole does not confer all its properties to the part; the brick
does not subclass the building ;)

Defining Science is a tough question, but as far as I can condense it for my
own purposes, Science is the systematic enquiry into the behaviour and
structure of the universe around us, by means of observation and experiment,
most usually through application of the Scientific Method.  Science may also
refer to a subdivision of this endeavour by discipline or speciality, the
body of knowledge revealed in this way, or the social edifice of the
practice of Science.

Or a belief in the ignorance of experts, if you ask Feynman ;)

L.

-- 
Dr Leighton Pritchard MRSC
D131, Plant Pathology Programme, SCRI
Errol Road, Invergowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, DD2 5DA
e:lpritc at scri.ac.uk       w:http://www.scri.ac.uk/staff/leightonpritchard
gpg/pgp: 0xFEFC205C       tel:+44(0)1382 562731 x2405


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