OT: Evolution

[Rodney R. Korte]

On Tue, 19 Sep 2000 13:54:28 +0100 (BST), Simon Bowring wrote:

>I do not go to dictionaries for the definitions of scientific terms,
>they are usually unreliable and often 10+ years out of date!

This is also an interesting statement.  Completely contrary to the
scientific process.  If definitions of scientific terms have 
lifespans of less than 10 years, how can humanity possibly make
great progress?  This makes no sense at all.

Science is, at least in part, if not great part, successful due
to building upon work previously done by others.  The immutability
of the definition of basic terms allows this to happen.

Certainly our knowlege on many subjects grows, out-dating 
many notions within a 10 year period.  However, I must disagree
with your statement that (in gernal) the definitions of terms
change.  I believe the only counter examples you can give are
terms which are newly applied and then undergo a transformation
shortly thereafter.  This is somewhat common in computer technology.
However, I would argue that these are "common" terms, not scientific,
and that they eventually "settle in" to a meaning very quickly 
anyway.
--
Rodney R. Korte
rkorte@psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-0817  Fax: 814-863-6239
http://www.personal.psu.edu/rrk102