{"id":154,"date":"2008-07-05T04:35:35","date_gmt":"2008-07-05T04:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/07\/05\/discussion_document\/"},"modified":"2008-07-05T04:35:35","modified_gmt":"2008-07-05T04:35:35","slug":"discussion_document","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/07\/05\/discussion_document\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussion document"},"content":{"rendered":"

I promised I’d let Sebastian<\/a> have a guest slot here while I was in the US. So here it is.<\/p>\n

\nI’ve not had a great deal of time to thoroughly edit the translation from the original<\/a> Spanish, but if anyone here speaks Spanish they’re welcome to have a go. All views and opinions are Sebastian’s alone. I’m actually unlikely to participate in any discussion because I’ll be doing the reverse of the nightmare trip to America.<\/p>\n

\n———
\nI will try to tell the story as I remember it yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nLast Friday we<\/a> had a conversation \u2028with some students at the physics department, University of Chile. We \u2028tried to present and make sense of some scientific facts from the previous \u2028time.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nWe showed a video, How does a machine understand the \u2028world?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nWhat are the fundamental questions in science? Science<\/a> magazine gives \u2028the first two: What are the biological bases of consciousness?<\/em> and What \u2028is the universe made of?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028Immediately, a third question arises: How are we going to answer in a \u2028reasonable amount of time these questions?<\/em> <\/p>\n

\nThis question has not appeared in Science\u2019s list, but we believe that it is time to add it. \u2028\u2028For years the image of the scientist is of someone who has been able to \u2028get up on a small hill and has looked around, so cold and impersonal, \u2028establishing assumptions, models and checks or rejecting the \u2028hypothesis. Thanks to scientists, we have achieved incredible things for \u2028humanity. And we thank them.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nBut we believe that something happened on the road, and today when we \u2028try to answer the big question of conscience say that something is \u2028demonstrated with a study covering 18 subjects<\/a>. When we see it with \u2028a critical eye we think only of white noise modulation, pareidolia<\/a>.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nWe studied the Nightingales in the arctic instead of doing something about \u2028global warming. We put a robot on Mars and we do not care about \u2028leading dandruff. And we are proud.<\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028There is genocide in africa and prisons in Iraq to tell us that \u2028humanity has no future, and the statue with its clean sky of concept \u2028does not account for this. On the shoulders of giants scientists look \u2028forward, to answer questions with hearts of stone.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nAnd we understand that science is important, but we also understand \u2028that there are many other important things. So how can we assess \u2028whether it is necessary to spend billions of dollars on building \u2028toys if the scientists are unable to justify these investments rather than \u2028saying “the method works so we continue?”. Examples are many, the ITER<\/a> \u2028is one of the most visible.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nAnd we are angry, we are sad, that this scientist is burning \u2028humankind’s resources to answer his questions, to play his game.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nThese are my taxes, it is my knowledge. We believe that the citizen is going to \u2028realize this. And going to say enough! It’s my money, I want to \u2028invest well. In the same way that I want my roads to have no holes, I \u2028want scientific research to be serious. So it is necessary that \u2028scientists are held to account. If it is only to satisfy their curiosity, my taxes are not for that.\u2028\u2028And we want the knowledge that our taxes fund to be free. Because \u2028knowledge is real. And the reality is dense with data: Linux, google, \u2028wiki and the iPhone are facts that we can not ever forget.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nAnd the data, the mass of data of any kind at our disposal. To ask \u2028all the questions you want, but in a simple and natural way.\u2028\u2028But these data do not tell us anything without a story behind it. \u2028Without a story that contextualizes and make sense of, in the widest \u2028sense of the word sense. <\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028Then, when “Wired::http:\/\/www.wired.com\/science\/discoveries\/magazine\/16-07\/pb_theory said that science is over, we believe that has some \u2028reason. There are things that we can not continue letting our statue. \u2028We believe thatthe statue of the happy prince is missing parts: \u2028context, humanity, sense, honesty and innocence.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nHere is where the third question comes again and their need becomes \u2028apparent. How ca we answer our questions in a reasonable time?\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nThat the machines do what they do, and that the scientists write \u2028stories.\u2028\u2028We believe it is time to divide science. The scientist, in his \u2028humanity, when presented with an hypothesis in advance of the reality \u2028will change the data obtained.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nWe propose the development of 3 layers of science. 1) acquisition of \u2028data, where the trust in them must be absolute, and thus measurements can not \u2028be made by anyone with pre-conceived assumptions about the data. 2) The layer \u2028of analysis, where computers are responsible for filtering the \u2028information and making correlations. For example, that red houses \u2028generate more wind than those of other colors. 3) The layer of \u2028interpretation or meaning, this is the place where scientists ask their \u2028questions and interpret the answer; how is it that the red houses \u2028produce wind?<\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028Then, in general terms how does this function? We measure things of \u2028concern to society as a whole, for example, thousands of EEGs of people \u2028doing a particular task. And this must be arranged and perfected, we \u2028need qualified people to obtain data professionally and should be \u2028funded in the same way as classical investigations are now. And \u2028the publications should be responsible for encouraging, promoting and \u2028sponsoring measurement standards.<\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028The data are entered into a server that stores, orders and prepares for \u2028analysis. As these data are facts of nature they lie in the public \u2028domain and access should be guaranteed to any person or entity. But we \u2028do not refer to raw measuring; humans are those who worry about \u2028measuring, scientists as much as anyone, worried about evolving the \u2028capture of data. The scientist gets results without altering data or \u2028modifying them to meet their expectations.<\/p>\n

\n\u2028\u2028Based on the foregoing, we propose to revise and adapt the scientific \u2028method and we see it this way:\u2028
\n1. Define the question\u2028
\n2. Collect data (observe)
\n\u20283. Form hypothesis\u2028
\n4. If the data exist, send the query. If there are no data, ask for the experiment to be performed and collect data\u2028
\n5. Interpret the answer to the query and draw conclusions that serve \u2028as a starting point for a new hypothesis\u2028
\n6. Publish results\u2028
\n7. Retest (4 do again if there is new data on the system)\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nAnd finally, we would like to thank Kim for making us see the meaning \u2028as well.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\nLa Tostaduria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I promised I’d let Sebastian have a guest slot here while I was in the US. So here it is. I’ve not had a great deal of time to thoroughly edit the translation from the original Spanish, but if anyone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}