If Economics is one of the "Soft Sciences" how can it be trusted determine so much in society?
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From: Immortalist on 14 Jul 2010 19:16 It is customary to divide sciences into two categories, hard and soft sciences - examples of hard sciences are physics and astronomy, while ecology and psychology are often classified as soft sciences. One group of sciences is also distinguished by strict and rigorous scientific standards, and close attention to formal standards for hypothesis formulation and testing. The other sciences take a much more informal approach, basically taking the view that if it works, use it. http://bill.silvert.org/notions/ecology/hardsoft.htm Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics Why do people trust economics as much as physics when it is based upon such weak research methods comparatively.
From: Osher Doctorow on 14 Jul 2010 19:28 This is a good point. Actually, even Nobel Laureates in Economics cannot predict tomorrow's economy, much less the stock market. Right now, Economics is a relatively "primitive" science, something similar to chemistry just at the time when it couldn't be separated from alchemy. It is worth studying in the hope of perfecting it some day, but politicians tend to rely on it because the Public doesn't tend to understand it, and neither do they usually. Quantitative language in social/behavioral sciences tends to disguise underlying agendas, just as untranslated legal language tends to - and guess who tends to make use of both of them - politicians! Osher Doctorow On Jul 14, 4:16 pm, Immortalist <reanimater_2...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > It is customary to divide sciences into two categories, hard and soft > sciences - examples of hard sciences are physics and astronomy, while > ecology and psychology are often classified as soft sciences. > > One group of sciences is also distinguished by strict and rigorous > scientific standards, and close attention to formal standards for > hypothesis formulation and testing. The other sciences take a much > more informal approach, basically taking the view that if it works, > use it. > > http://bill.silvert.org/notions/ecology/hardsoft.htm > > Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, > distribution, and consumption of goods and services. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics > > Why do people trust economics as much as physics when it is based upon > such weak research methods comparatively.
From: George Jefferson on 14 Jul 2010 23:38 For the same reason that we trust entertainers and atheletes over scientists?
From: Bret Cahill on 14 Jul 2010 23:44 > It is customary to divide sciences into two categories, hard and soft > sciences - examples of hard sciences are physics and astronomy, while > ecology and psychology are often classified as soft sciences. > > One group of sciences is also distinguished by strict and rigorous > scientific standards, and close attention to formal standards for > hypothesis formulation and testing. The other sciences take a much > more informal approach, basically taking the view that if it works, > use it. > > http://bill.silvert.org/notions/ecology/hardsoft.htm > > Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, > distribution, and consumption of goods and services. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics > > Why do people trust economics as much as physics when it is based upon > such weak research methods comparatively. Actually many economists go to great lengths to dress up economics as a hard science but it is trivial to prove that that is just a scam: www.bretcahill.com
From: Arindam Banerjee on 15 Jul 2010 01:22
On Jul 15, 1:44 pm, Bret Cahill <BretCah...(a)peoplepc.com> wrote: > > It is customary to divide sciences into two categories, hard and soft > > sciences - examples of hard sciences are physics and astronomy, while > > ecology and psychology are often classified as soft sciences. > > > One group of sciences is also distinguished by strict and rigorous > > scientific standards, and close attention to formal standards for > > hypothesis formulation and testing. The other sciences take a much > > more informal approach, basically taking the view that if it works, > > use it. > > >http://bill.silvert.org/notions/ecology/hardsoft.htm > > > Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, > > distribution, and consumption of goods and services. > > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics > > > Why do people trust economics as much as physics when it is based upon > > such weak research methods comparatively. > > Actually many economists go to great lengths to dress up economics as > a hard science but it is trivial to prove that that is just a scam: > > www.bretcahill.com- Just that, their models are not good enough. I managed to save my skin by using my mathematical model to predict call centre response times to pull out from the stocks to cash, at just about the right time, Sep 2007. heh-heh, good for me, but no one else seems interested. Never mind, lots more interesting things to do. Cheers, Arindam Banerjee. |