‘Correctness’ in theories is a scalar rather than a binary quality. Phlogiston theory is less correct (and less useful) than chemistry, but it’s more correct—and more useful!--than the theory of elements. The fact that the modern scientific theories you list are better than their precursors, does not mean their precursors were useless.
You have a false dichotomy going here. If you know of someone who “knows how human cognition works on all scales”, or even just a theory of cognition as powerful as Newton’s theory of mechanics is in its domain, then please, link! But if such a theory existed, we wouldn’t need to be having this discussion. A strong theory of cognition will descend from a series of lesser theories of cognition, of which control theory is one step.
Unless you have a better theory, or a convincing reason to claim that “no-theory” is better than control theory, you’re in the position of an elementalist arguing that phlogiston theory should be ignored because it can’t explain heat generated by friction—while ignoring the fact that while imperfect, phlogiston theory is strictly superior to elemental theory or “no-theory”.
You’ve misunderstood my emphasis. I’m an engineer—I don’t insist on correctness. In each case I’ve picked above, the emphasis is on a deeper understanding (a continuous quantity, not a binary variable), not on truth per se. (I mention correctness in the Coriolis example, but even there I have Newtonian mechanics in mind, so that usage was not particularly accurate.)
My key perspective can be found in the third paragraph of this comment.
I’m all for control theory as a basis for forming hypotheses and for Seth Roberts-style self-experimentation.
‘Correctness’ in theories is a scalar rather than a binary quality. Phlogiston theory is less correct (and less useful) than chemistry, but it’s more correct—and more useful!--than the theory of elements. The fact that the modern scientific theories you list are better than their precursors, does not mean their precursors were useless.
You have a false dichotomy going here. If you know of someone who “knows how human cognition works on all scales”, or even just a theory of cognition as powerful as Newton’s theory of mechanics is in its domain, then please, link! But if such a theory existed, we wouldn’t need to be having this discussion. A strong theory of cognition will descend from a series of lesser theories of cognition, of which control theory is one step.
Unless you have a better theory, or a convincing reason to claim that “no-theory” is better than control theory, you’re in the position of an elementalist arguing that phlogiston theory should be ignored because it can’t explain heat generated by friction—while ignoring the fact that while imperfect, phlogiston theory is strictly superior to elemental theory or “no-theory”.
You’ve misunderstood my emphasis. I’m an engineer—I don’t insist on correctness. In each case I’ve picked above, the emphasis is on a deeper understanding (a continuous quantity, not a binary variable), not on truth per se. (I mention correctness in the Coriolis example, but even there I have Newtonian mechanics in mind, so that usage was not particularly accurate.)
My key perspective can be found in the third paragraph of this comment.
I’m all for control theory as a basis for forming hypotheses and for Seth Roberts-style self-experimentation.