Subject: Latest Feud...

From: [email-masked] (Craig W. Burkhart)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 09:28:11 -0400

Netters:

Joe Golab is right when he says that the debate about REAL
CHEMISTRY is inane. As a matter of fact, one could argue
that all of science is nothing more than model building
(yes, experimentalists construct models, too).

Von Neumann said about 40 years ago that the best we
can expect out of science in general is modelbuilding.
It is a great human achievement, because it gives us
a framework to test our ideas for their strengths and
shortcomings. Without models, we would be stuck in the
first stage of understanding--the trial and error
phase. Or worse yet, we could be stuck, as the
modern philosophical movement is, with words and nothing
to test them against.

Without waxing too much, models are what we should always
be trying to build and use. It is what we as scientists
do (hopefully) well. I will, however, not bend to
people who spout their region of chemistry to be REAL
CHEMISTRY, and everyone else's is just function-fitting.
To me, that is the worst kind of elitism because it
is not justified.

Let's not get into the game of "my model is better
than your model", unless we are comparing apples with
apples.

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Craig W. Burkhart, Ph.D.                   Senior Research Chemist 
E-mail: [email-masked]             The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Fone:   216.796.3163                       Research Center
Fax:    216.796.3304                       142 Goodyear Boulevard
					   Akron, OH   44305
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For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over
public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled - Feynman
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