Comments on: Why did the chicken cross the road? http://andygiger.com/blog/2008/01/02/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road/ Art, Science and Communication... and Nature. Life. And Philosophy. Some Bugs, too... Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:19:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: LH http://andygiger.com/blog/2008/01/02/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road/#comment-9 LH Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:05:41 +0000 http://andygiger.com/blog/2008/01/02/why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road/#comment-9 Yes, I agree that confidence in our conclusions should be proportional to the strength of the data. However I think that facts are overrated in the public perception of science - what is more important is the theoretical framework that the facts help to build, and the testable predictions that the theory generates. A robust theory can produce many useful and dependable applications. These allow us to make the best of what we currently know, despite the limited information. Yes, I agree that confidence in our conclusions should be proportional to the strength of the data. However I think that facts are overrated in the public perception of science - what is more important is the theoretical framework that the facts help to build, and the testable predictions that the theory generates. A robust theory can produce many useful and dependable applications.

These allow us to make the best of what we currently know, despite the limited information.

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