Re:Networks are Killing Science
by jacquesm on Monday August 24, 2009 @02:24AM
(#781618)
A learning algorithm creates a specialist filter, usually in classification problems, that can discriminate between the various classes.
That doesn't mean that because you didn't manually tune each and every weight in the classifier that its behaviour is not solidly governed by scientific principles.
Science and the application of the scientific method are what got us there in the first place, and has given us the keys to understanding these systems. Genetic Algorithms are a another area where you could easily be tempted to think that you are not doing science, the same thing happens there.
Science is the key to understanding. The scientific method is the ultimate arbiter between what we know to be true, and what we can not prove to be either false, fantasy or outright lie.
I feel that you think that somehow these computational models somehow supplant the scientific method, but you are forgetting one crucial bit here, those models themselves will need to be understood, and only the scientific method will allow you to do so.
That doesn't mean that because you didn't manually tune each and every weight in the classifier that its behaviour is not solidly governed by scientific principles.
Science and the application of the scientific method are what got us there in the first place, and has given us the keys to understanding these systems. Genetic Algorithms are a another area where you could easily be tempted to think that you are not doing science, the same thing happens there.
Science is the key to understanding. The scientific method is the ultimate arbiter between what we know to be true, and what we can not prove to be either false, fantasy or outright lie.
I feel that you think that somehow these computational models somehow supplant the scientific method, but you are forgetting one crucial bit here, those models themselves will need to be understood, and only the scientific method will allow you to do so.