> It seems kind of short-sighted to me to say that the people who are trying to build those aren't doing "real science." I don't understand the theory there... that they haven't figured it all out yet, so it's not worth doing?

It's not about heuristics. It's about experimental validation. Both physicists and chemists take great pain in actually rigorously confronting their theories to reality. Biologists try. Most economists don't.

It doesn't mean there is no value in economic models and theories. It does however mean it's not a science.