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Any "science" that can't reliably make reliably make predictions isn't a science. That's the litmus test.

slothtrop 4y ago
You've just eliminated all social sciences, by your metric of "reliably". edit: your take-away from this should be that you're mis-defining science. edit2: you all forgot that medical and nutritional science has a reproducibility crisis, it's no less "science" for it. Add to the fact, the notion that nothing is reproducible in Economics is false. See for example: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/famous-economics-experiment-reproduced-thousands-times https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/famous-economics-experime... , https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf0918 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf0918
- ur-whale 4y ago
  > You've just eliminated all social sciences Because they're indeed not sciences. They call themselves that to attract funding. Predictive power and reproducibility are defining characteristics of sciences. Social "sciences" have neither and therefore aren't sciences.
- guerrilla 4y ago
  Absolutely. > edit: your take-away from this should be that you're mis-defining science. No thanks.
- slothtrop 4y ago
  reproducibility has improved over time as well - https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jel.20171350 https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jel.20171350
dotopotoro 4y ago
What kind of precision of prediction is required? Economics predict some things. For example if you print exceedingly a lot moneys, inflation will happen. At the same time, physicists have problem telling precise location and momentum of the atom (at the same time; precisely). (footnote: I love physics more than economics, but world is not perfect and sciences are not perfect. Except for math maybe https://xkcd.com/435 https://xkcd.com/435 . Perfection and usefulness are not the same)
initplus 4y ago
Volcanologists cannot exactly predict when a volcano will erupt. Seismologists cannot exactly predict when an earthquake will happen. Both can only offer uncertain probabilities. But these are definitely both sciences.
- guerrilla 4y ago
  They don't have to predict everything, especially things that aren't predictable.

You've just eliminated all social sciences, by your metric of "reliably". edit: your take-away from this should be that you're mis-defining science. edit2: you all forgot that medical and nutritional science has a reproducibility crisis, it's no less "science" for it. Add to the fact, the notion that nothing is reproducible in Economics is false. See for example: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/famous-economics-experiment-reproduced-thousands-times https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/famous-economics-experime... , https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf0918 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf0918

ur-whale 4y ago
> You've just eliminated all social sciences Because they're indeed not sciences. They call themselves that to attract funding. Predictive power and reproducibility are defining characteristics of sciences. Social "sciences" have neither and therefore aren't sciences.
guerrilla 4y ago
Absolutely. > edit: your take-away from this should be that you're mis-defining science. No thanks.
slothtrop 4y ago
reproducibility has improved over time as well - https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jel.20171350 https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jel.20171350

dotopotoro 4y ago

What kind of precision of prediction is required? Economics predict some things. For example if you print exceedingly a lot moneys, inflation will happen. At the same time, physicists have problem telling precise location and momentum of the atom (at the same time; precisely). (footnote: I love physics more than economics, but world is not perfect and sciences are not perfect. Except for math maybe https://xkcd.com/435 https://xkcd.com/435 . Perfection and usefulness are not the same)

initplus 4y ago

Volcanologists cannot exactly predict when a volcano will erupt. Seismologists cannot exactly predict when an earthquake will happen. Both can only offer uncertain probabilities. But these are definitely both sciences.

guerrilla 4y ago
They don't have to predict everything, especially things that aren't predictable.