n.
A scientific endeavour—such as a computer simulation of a biological process—that does not take into account real-world constraints such as chemical or biological data.
Example Citation:
Biochemist Michael Behe calls evolution fact-free science. That describes the Gazette's editorial page, which conducts a fact-free inquisition against all the unconverted (to evolutionary theory) week after week.
—Stephen Bell, "Evolution an alternative," The Charleston Gazette, March 30, 2001,
—Stephen Bell, "Evolution an alternative," The Charleston Gazette, March 30, 2001,
Earliest Citation:
I discuss below a particular example of a dynamic system—Turing's morphogenetic waves—which gives rise to just the kind of structure that, as a biologist, I want to see. But first I must explain why I have a general feeling of unease when contemplating complex systems dynamics. Its devotees are practicing fact-free science. A fact for them is, at best, the output of a computer simulation: it is rarely a fact about the world.
—John Maynard Smith, "Life at the Edge of Chaos?," The New York Review of Books, March 2, 1995
—John Maynard Smith, "Life at the Edge of Chaos?," The New York Review of Books, March 2, 1995
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