{"id":4291,"date":"2022-01-09T09:36:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T08:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/09\/are-we-witnessing-the-dawn-of-post-theory-science\/"},"modified":"2022-01-09T09:36:13","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T08:36:13","slug":"are-we-witnessing-the-dawn-of-post-theory-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/09\/are-we-witnessing-the-dawn-of-post-theory-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we witnessing the dawn of post-theory science?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does the advent of machine learning mean the classic methodology of hypothesise, predict and test has had its day?<\/p>\n

Isaac Newton apocryphally discovered his second law \u2013 the one about gravity \u2013 after an apple fell on his head. Much experimentation and data analysis later, he realised there was a fundamental relationship between force, mass and acceleration. He formulated a theory to describe that relationship \u2013 one that could be expressed as an equation, F=ma \u2013 and used it to predict the behaviour of objects other than apples. His predictions turned out to be right (if not always precise enough for those who came later).<\/p>\n

Contrast how science is increasingly done today. Facebook\u2019s machine learning<\/a> tools predict your preferences better than any psychologist. AlphaFold, a program built by DeepMind, has produced the most accurate predictions yet<\/a> of protein structures based on the amino acids they contain. Both are completely silent on why they work: why you prefer this or that information; why this sequence generates that structure.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nDoes the advent of machine learning mean the classic methodology of hypothesise, predict and test has had its day?
\nIsaac Newton apocryphally discovered his second law \u2013 the one about gravity \u2013 after an apple fell on his head. Much experimentation and data analysis later, he realised there was a fundamental relationship between force, mass and acceleration. He formulated a theory to describe that relationship \u2013 one that could be expressed as an equation, F=ma \u2013 and used it to predict the behaviour of objects other than apples. His predictions turned out to be right (if not always precise enough for those who came later).
\nContrast how science is increasingly done today. Facebook\u2019s machine learning tools predict your preferences better than any psychologist. AlphaFold, a program built by DeepMind, has produced the most accurate predictions yet of protein structures based on the amino acids they contain. Both are completely silent on why they work: why you prefer this or that information; why this sequence generates that structure. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does the advent of machine learning mean the classic methodology of hypothesise, predict and test has had its day? Isaac Newton apocryphally discovered his second law \u2013 the one about gravity \u2013 after an apple fell on his head. Much experimentation and data analysis later, he realised there was a fundamental relationship between force, mass …<\/p>\n

Are we witnessing the dawn of post-theory science?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}