
The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete - nreece
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory
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coglethorpe
I'm not sure if I get it. Data has always been used to generate observations
about the world, which is the starting point for the scientific method. I'm
reminded of how Kepler used volumes of data to figure out the planetary
orbits.

<http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/kepler.html>

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neilc
Interesting article, although the basic thesis is not new.

One way to view the application of machine learning to science is simply that
ML automates part of the scientific method: inducing plausible hypotheses from
the data.

I don't see how the author concludes that "correlation is enough" or "we don't
need models": the whole point of machine learning is to develop a model that
explains the available observations and is useful for predicting future
observations. Just because those models are expressed mathematically and
derived algorithmically doesn't mean we don't need a model at all.

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gravity
The comments show that the article author presents a false dichotomy. All the
data collection and analysis depends on models. Then from that analysis you
get new models and do new analyses. This is how science works, whether you
have tons and tons of data or not.

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softbuilder
Is there a hyperbole hall of fame?

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kuniklo
Nice to see Wired dialing back up the naive techno-triumphalism. How long
until the next bubble bursts?

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Tamerlin
The author of that article obviously doesn't understand the scientific method.
Sad.

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neilc
In what way?

