bones, flesh and "science"

[Timothy C. Cahill]

On Fri, 10 Dec 1999, Paul Kekai Manansala wrote:

> If the linguist feeds a mathematician things as constants or things
> similar to constants which are really assumptions then you get linguists
> using bad methods.

   I think the last part of this should read: "...then you get
*mathematicians* using bad data.  I've heard scientists defend their
methods (when facing bizarre results) by saying "Garbage in, garbage
out."  It seems to me that a mathematician who values the results of the
method without being willing to assess the quality of the input is on
shaky ground. I'm familiar with the methods Thompson puts to good
use in assessing Vedic input. I'm curious about Manansala's, since I know
so little about it.

Tim Cahill