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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dracin72 who wrote (67538)	4/19/2018 12:18:19 AM
From: bentway	Respond to of 358951

Have koan use his 'social science' to get rid of Trump! then, it would be recognized as a real science! Even magic!

To: Dracin72 who wrote (67538)	4/19/2018 12:23:30 AM
From: neolib	1 Recommendation Recommended By denizen48 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 358951

Statistics is like Differential Equations or any other significant branch of mathematics. Both of those two, BTW have extensive connections to Physics. Differential Equations underlie many branches of Physics, but Stats does as well, and in one particularly fundamental one, Statistical Mechanics and the resulting law of Entropy. Interestingly, the 2nd law of thermo was articulated well before it was derived from Statistical Mechanics, but it was an empirical result, rather than a theoretical one until the later came along. This is (AFAIK) the only result in modern physics that provides a direction to time, and hence makes the past and the future different. I think all other physics is agnostic to the direction of time, and hence the theories work equally well in either direction of time. But for some reason we find ourselves in a Universe that has an arrow of time to it, and Statistics is the branch of Math that is used in that piece of Physics. So is Statistics the MOST fundamental of all the branches of Math???

To: Dracin72 who wrote (67538)

4/19/2018 11:09:58 AM

From: koan

Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 358951

I never said it was on the same level as the hard sciences. I just said it was a science, a very useful science.

And people are not trying to elevate it to any degree because of a vested interest. Too many people, but especially Republicans cast aspersions on things that go against what they want to believe e.g. the FBI, that Obama was born here, global warming, etc.

Social science is taught pretty much the same in all universities using statistics to make the point. And sure there is disagreement, but the debate moves us further into a civilized society.

And to the contrary, the Republicans try to discount its importance because they do not want to believe what the science tells them. They do not like to fund social programs , or have cultural biases like the poor are lazy which social science says is not true.

It is exactly like global warming and evolution that the Republicans also reject.

<<

"Social Science uses statistics"

Statistics is a tool often employed in the scientific method. Social Sciences relies heavily on that tool to create models or probabilities. I don't discount its usefulness but is it in the same class of Physics, Chemistry or Medicine to be a science? I think a lot of people have a vested interest to elevate it to that degree but I'm not sure I would consider it on equal footing with natural and physical sciences.

To: Dracin72 who wrote (67538)	4/19/2018 12:59:04 PM
From: i-node	Respond to of 358951

>> I don't discount its usefulness but is it in the same class of Physics, Chemistry or Medicine to be a science? Modern medicine's evolution would be at an absolute standstill without statistics. Every new technique, drug, even changes in inventory tracking, everything -- is analyzed statistically before it can move into general usage. It is not unusual in some fields (e.g., drug testing) to have tens of studies on a drug or a procedure. Clinical trials are highly structured and often are analyzed daily for changes that might affect outcomes. Simple things, like testing electronic components, can be impossible without statistical methods since some tests are by their nature destructive. Same class as key sciences, no. But essential, yes, I believe so.