 |
 |
So what about Chaos theory? What about the whole concept of unpredictability. So if chaos tends toward order how predictable is it in determining the exact end product of that order. Jan Jan Coker C3-10 Underdale Campus University of South Australia +61 8 8302 6919 "There is no way to peace, peace is the way" Gandhi -----Original Message----- From: Jason Foster [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, 3 March 2003 5:33 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Creativity > If you have a theory, in the scientific sense, it leads to predictions. This assertion has been troubling me for a long while, and since you did bring it up... :) Is it possible to have non-predictive scientific theories? Based on my (very little) reading of Popper, he would definitely say "no", since science is distinguished by its focus on testability. How would you test something that doesn't predict? However I'll bet that Popper isn't the be-all-and-end-all, so there might be other definitions of science that do support the possibility. Where this relates to design, in my sphere anyways, is that I'm being asked to develop a scientifically valid measure of engineering design ability. As I understand measurement, to design a good measure requires an underlying theory of the thing being measured. Thus I need a scientific theory of engineering design. This would imply that I can make predictions about design, which I don't think is feasible. Then we throw stochastics, fuzzyness, etc., into the mix and I just get more and more confused. Si to haul this rant (sorry to all) back to the original question: is it possible to have non-predictive scientific theories? If it isn't, then can we have a "science of design"? Jason Foster