I hope that when we understand biology better, it won’t seem like an almanac. I predict that our understanding of what “understanding” means will shift dramatically as we continue to make progress in biology. For example—just speculating—perhaps we will feel like we understand something if we can compute it. Perhaps we will develop and run models of biological phenemena as trivially as using a calculator, so that such knowledge seems like an extension of what we “know”. And then understanding will mean identifying the underlying rules, while the almanac part will just be the nitty gritty output; like doing a physics calculation for specific forces. (For example, it’s pretty neat that WHO is using modeling in real time to generate information about the H1N1 pandemic.)
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.
I hope that when we understand biology better, it won’t seem like an almanac. I predict that our understanding of what “understanding” means will shift dramatically as we continue to make progress in biology. For example—just speculating—perhaps we will feel like we understand something if we can compute it. Perhaps we will develop and run models of biological phenemena as trivially as using a calculator, so that such knowledge seems like an extension of what we “know”. And then understanding will mean identifying the underlying rules, while the almanac part will just be the nitty gritty output; like doing a physics calculation for specific forces. (For example, it’s pretty neat that WHO is using modeling in real time to generate information about the H1N1 pandemic.)
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.