Boldly Going Beyond Mathematics

摘要

Before the computer age, progress in science was achieved mainly by the interaction of two processes: gathering empirical data and crafting theoretical descriptions of the forces and agents that give rise to our observations. The story of how theories-perhaps inspired by new observations-make falsifiable predictions that are then compared to further observations and, possibly, refinements of the theory has been told many times. This theory-observation-refinement cycle has arguably provided many of our most profound insights into how the universe works, in particular in physics and chemistry. It has not worked so well for developing our understanding of complex systems.