{"id":119495,"date":"2021-02-12T18:22:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T02:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/new-machine-learning-theory-raises-questions-about-the-very-nature-of-science"},"modified":"2021-02-12T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T02:22:17","slug":"new-machine-learning-theory-raises-questions-about-the-very-nature-of-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/new-machine-learning-theory-raises-questions-about-the-very-nature-of-science","title":{"rendered":"New Machine Learning Theory Raises Questions About the Very Nature of Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/new-machine-learning-theory-raises-questions-about-the-very-nature-of-science2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A novel computer algorithm, or set of rules, that accurately predicts the orbits of planets in the solar system could be adapted to better predict and control the behavior of the plasma that fuels fusion facilities designed to harvest on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.<\/p>\n<p>The algorithm, devised by a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), applies machine learning, the form of artificial intelligence (AI) that learns from experience, to develop the predictions. \u201cUsually in physics, you make observations, create a theory based on those observations, and then use that theory to predict new observations,\u201d said PPPL physicist Hong Qin, author of a paper detailing the concept in<em> Scientific Reports<\/em>. \u201cWhat I\u2019m doing is replacing this process with a type of black box that can produce accurate predictions without using a traditional theory or law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Qin (pronounced <em>Chin<\/em>) created a computer program into which he fed data from past observations of the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and the dwarf planet Ceres. This program, along with an additional program known as a \u201cserving algorithm,\u201d then made accurate predictions of the orbits of other planets in the solar system without using Newton\u2019s laws of motion and gravitation. \u201cEssentially, I bypassed all the fundamental ingredients of physics. I go directly from data to data,\u201d Qin said. \u201cThere is no law of physics in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A novel computer algorithm, or set of rules, that accurately predicts the orbits of planets in the solar system could be adapted to better predict and control the behavior of the plasma that fuels fusion facilities designed to harvest on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. The algorithm, devised by a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":599,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,219,6,224,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-science","category-physics","category-robotics-ai","category-science","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}