Science in the Age of Computer Simulation

by Eric Winsberg

Computer simulation was first pioneered as a scientific tool in meteorology and nuclear physics in the period following World War II, but it has grown rapidly to become indispensible in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including astrophysics, high-energy physics, climate science, engineering, ecology, and economics. Digital computer simulation helps study phenomena of great complexity, but how much do we know about the limits and possibilities of this new scientific practice? How do simulations compare to traditional experiments? And are they reliable? Eric Winsberg seeks to answer these questions in Science in the Age of Computer Simulation.

Scrutinizing these issue with a philosophical lens, Winsberg explores the impact of simulation on such issues as the nature of scientific evidence; the role of values in science; the nature and role of fictions in science; and the relationship between simulation and experiment, theories and data, and theories at different levels of description. Science in the Age of Computer Simulation will transform many of the core issues in philosophy of science, as well as our basic understanding of the role of the digital computer in the sciences.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Nonfiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book collects the essays Winsberg has published over the last decade or so (they can be found separately on PhilPapers, but the collection does have a new introduction. Either way you read it, it's some of the best recent work on simulations, and is important for philosophers of science and practically-minded epistemologists.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

New words that I did learn: "reify", "mereological". I shall endeavor to make use of them in everyday conversation forthwith.

[Paweł · Rating 2 out of 5]

Misleading title.

[Ansh Shukla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book without having any prior familiarity with the philosophy of science and limited exposure to philosophy in general. As such, making it through each page was fairly painful. I do not know whether this should be viewed as an accomplishment (research papers which are also approachable, with effort, for the layman) or a failure (unnecessarily abstruse).

I thought the ideas developed in the book were relevant to other fields of computing, and they were introduced in a systematic enough way that I've mentally developed analogues to my own work. The rigorous look at model building as a new, independent, and uncertain mode of science was fascinating.

It was fun to finish and a good length.