On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Mike Tintner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ben, > > My first thought here is that - ironically given recent discussion - this > is entirely a *philosophical* POV. > > Yes, a great deal of science takes the form below, i.e. of establishing > "correlations" - and v. often between biological or environmental factors > and diseases. > > However, it is understood that this is only provisional knowledge. The aim > of science is always to move beyond it and to establish causal relations - > and for example eliminate some correlations as not causal. That science is > about causality is decidedly not "up to you." What is at stake here is > science's mechanistic worldview, which sees things as machines and matter in > motion, one part moving [or "causing"] another. That is not, as you imply, > optional. It is the foundation of science. Nor is it optional in technology > or AI. > > Of course if you just want to be a philosopher... >
As Ben noted, there is no established consensus on what causality is and how to discover it in various processes. There are several points of view on how to formalize this intuition, but they are at odds with each other and have their respective weaknesses. Most "laws" that science discovers apply in a context-sensitive manner, and part of this context can't be controlled or detected when the laws are to apply. You can sometimes cheat the laws by selecting a context in which they reliably break, but usually you are physically or technologically unable to do so, or the law assumes that you don't try that. Dependency is usually said to be causal if it can't start to reliably break given expected variations of context, which distinguishes it from mere correlation, when you can set up a context that breaks it. My thoughts on this subject are written up here: http://causalityrelay.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/causal-rules/ http://causalityrelay.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/causation-and-actions/ -- Vladimir Nesov [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://causalityrelay.wordpress.com/ ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
