Saturday, March 12, 2011

Philosophy Wire: Japan, the (unknown) pre-earthquake, the main earthquake and the importance of models interpretation


With people not yet recovered by the terrible earthquake of 8.8 Richter scale in Japan, we learn today that two days ago the same area was struck by a Richter 7.2 earthquake [source: 1]. The quake was considered as a major earthquake then and did not pose any worries. Until the great earthquake came... and the "main" quake was characterized as a "pre-earthquake" by scientists... We are looking for fixed points of reference, but a new larger quake is enough to change everything overnight. The interpretation of what we see is so ambiguous, subjective, fluid and changeable, which makes us wonder: is anything certain in our "objective" science?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

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