My use of the world “almanac” was more of a reference to the breadth of the area covered by biology, rather than a comment on the difficulty or content of the information.
It’s funny that you mention predictive modeling—one of the main functions of an Almanac is to provide predictions based on models.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanac:
“Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data covering the entire world. Contents also include discussions of topical developments and a summary of recent historical events.”
Yes, I noticed that I was still nevertheless describing biology as an almanac, as a library of information (predictions) that we will feel like we own because we can generate it. I suppose the best way to say what I was trying to say is that I hope that when we have a better understanding of biology, the term “almanac” won’t seem pejorative, but the legitimate way of understanding something that has large numbers of similar interacting components.
My use of the world “almanac” was more of a reference to the breadth of the area covered by biology, rather than a comment on the difficulty or content of the information.
It’s funny that you mention predictive modeling—one of the main functions of an Almanac is to provide predictions based on models.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanac: “Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data covering the entire world. Contents also include discussions of topical developments and a summary of recent historical events.”
Yes, I noticed that I was still nevertheless describing biology as an almanac, as a library of information (predictions) that we will feel like we own because we can generate it. I suppose the best way to say what I was trying to say is that I hope that when we have a better understanding of biology, the term “almanac” won’t seem pejorative, but the legitimate way of understanding something that has large numbers of similar interacting components.