Re: FutureNomenclature

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>Nevertheless, out here in the cyberspace we have an opportunity to
>collectively imagine what it might be like to start nomenclature all over
>again.  So, in a perfect world what would we want biotic nomenclature to do
>for us?

Everything.  Or as much as possible.

What types of information (or changes in information) should it
>respond to?

Relationships, stratigraphy, ecologic.

What should be its underlying organizational principle(s).  I
>assume everyone wants some sort of hierarchic system.  But how that system
>is structured depends on what sort of information you want to recover from
>it.  Should its primary function be to represent the current state of
>phylogenetic knowledge?

Phylogenetic hypotheses.  Most of this carries with it information about
the other things we need to know.

Or should it be designed only to capture the broad
>outlines of the phylogeny while, at the same time being used for verbal and
>written communication between people (as opposed to communication between
>machines that have absolutely no problem handling n-dimensional
>classification systems)?

Well, we'll always have meetings and drink beer together.  So we need to talk.

Or perhaps we need multiple classification
>systems that capture the different aspects of our science (e.g.,
>phylogenetic, morphologic, ecologic)?

God, no.  Look at the problems with have with just one.  You don't think
we're going to get consensus on a package of them?

Let's get creative.  Who knows?  It
>might even be fun.

It will be.  But I think we can be creative and advance our science if we
treat our current system more scientifically.  i.e., as a framework of
hypotheses that can be dealt with scientifically.  Not legislated.  Not
computerized.  We forget that the scientific method is simply a
formalization of the way we are creative.  It's not cookbook, and cookbook
solutions will lead away from science and into the disrespect we think we
already have.

Jere


Jere H. Lipps
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology
Director, Museum of Paleontology
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
510-642-9006 fax 642-1822
jlipps@ucmp1.berkeley.edu