Why the Cloud Cannot Obscure the Scientific Method

There is little reason not to be enthused over the new avenues of research offered by increasingly comprehensive and electronic scientific data sets available to us. But reactions to Chris Anderson’s naive claim that the deluge of data makes the scientific method obsolete reminds us why models and theories are the best tools we have to understanding our world. For example, John Timmer responds: “Correlations are a way of catching a scientist’s attention, but the models and mechanisms that explain them are how we make the predictions that not only advance science, but generate practical applications.”