Stephen Downes

Interesting commentary from Daniel Lemire. "Formal definitions," he writes, "are less useful than you think." Consider science, where we typically say "You start with a hypothesis and then you try to falsify it." If this defines science, then a lot of science isn't science. "A clearly stated hypothesis is often the end result, not the starting point," writes Lemire. This accords with my own experience. A lot of what I do depends on messing around with things and seeing what results, rather than trying top test some preconception. Sure, a hypothesis is a useful tool. But it hardly defines science. "Feynman described science as the belief in the ignorance of experts." Image: MIT Technology Review.