4 ms·

This should be retitled to be Based on the assumptions built into our computer models, our models suggest that it could take millions of years for biodiversity

• ceilingcorner 5y ago
  Experiments are too costly and the conclusions aren’t sexy enough for clickbait articles. Science is all about computer models now.
• hh3k0 5y ago
  > Based on the assumptions built into our computer models, our models suggest … That's how science often works, yes. I'd wager most people are aware of that and won't expect a prophecy when confronted with such headlines.
  • tryonenow 5y ago
    You'd be overestimating the average person's ability. Laypeople know virtually nothing about computational modeling. I can't find the famous quote, but it is dangerous to consume such research uncritically because with enough degrees of freedom you can model virtually anything while also backfitting your ground truth. And these models are almost always composed of numerous nonlinear parameters which may be adjusted within wide ranges, individually seemingly reasonable, but with potentially nonsensical and/or trivially biasable results.
• StrictDabbler 5y ago
  A better title would be "Computer biodiversity models suggest how many millions of years it may take to recover." It's impossible that it will take less than millions of years.
• pvaldes 5y ago
  Must be noted that the empirical observations of fossil biodiversity in the last five mass extinctions support the same idea.