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Author Topic:   What is a theory in biology?
contracycle
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Message 18 of 22 (204932)
05-04-2005 10:39 AM


Hmm, I dunno.
The objection that prediction is not of future events does not fly. Prediction is a powerful tool BECAUSE it does indeed predict - that is, state before - what the result will be. If it did not do so, it would not be valid as an experimental process.
But, these predictions are extremely constrained, in order that we do not over-draw our conclusions. Thats why such lab predictions are not smoothly generalisable to real, open environment future events.
But that too said, I think that with a good enough understanding of biological mechanics, we might eventually be able to build a predictive model. That is, there must be a limited range of solutions available to biological organisms as a result of the properties of the materials of which they are comprised. This would still not produce the constrained prediction of an experiment, but should permit probablistic predictions.

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