Vladimir_Nesov comments on Learned Blankness - Less Wrong

130 Post author: AnnaSalamon 18 April 2011 06:55PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 19 April 2011 11:48:50PM 8 points [-]

It should be lightness, not blank slate. Some hypotheses are clearly better than others, but one shouldn't typically be confident in things that were not observed with sufficient clarity, which means constant search for experimental tests and alternative explanations.

Programming is probably the most intensive mode of application for basic scientific method, by the sheer volume of hypotheses and experiments required to get anything done.