3min chapter

Idea Machines cover image

Scientific Irrationality with Michael Strevens [Idea Machines #43]

Idea Machines

CHAPTER

Population Ecology Models and Predicting Predatory Populations

I think it's kind of amazing this is one of my other interests is the degree to which it's possible to build simple models of complicated systems and still get something out of them. One of the very first uses of these models was to answer the question of whether just generally killing a lot of the animals in an ecosystem will lead the the prey populations to increase for relatively speaking or decrease but in general they increase. The fact that you get anything sensible out of it at all is truly amazing so it's been lucky so far maybe we've just been picking the little hanging fruit but there's a lot of that fruit to be had yeah eventually though maybe we're just going to have to.

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