Quote:
Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent
I think it does. If all we can do is create more and more complex representations to describe and make predictions but we can't actually model reality, then it seems like science leads us further away from the truth rather than closer to it.
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Of course we can model reality. Modeling reality doesn't require the exactest impossible-to-attain-level knowledge of reality. In my work, I want to model the dispersal of flightless invertebrates in the arctic. Hopefully, that will help us predict how these arctic ecosystems may change in the future. By your argument, it sounds like there's not really any point in that because I am not able to say that one individual of this exact specie of mite will fall down at exactly this 1 by 1 millimetre area at this nanosecond of this day. Truth is that you don't need to know that exact detail in order to make fairly accurate predictions about the larger picture.
You don't need to know exactly how many stars there are in the universe to make some kind of model that explains it. For most purposes, the model might be sufficient and if for some reason you really need the tiniest level of accuracy, time and effort will get us closer and closer .. even though we may not get there entirely.