Numerical Taxonomy

From
Date
Cc
Reply-To
>Tomasz Slomczynski writes:
>What you think about numerical taxonomy ?  It works or not ? What would you
>say about results ?  Is it good method ? Maybe mistake ? Do you use it?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  W A R N I N G  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 THERE NOW FOLLOWS AN OPINIONOGRAM: THE UNINTERESTED SHOULD DELETE NOW ;-)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is only a personal opinion, and as I have very limited experience, I 
can only comment on the general philosophy of such techniques.

In common with such practices as cladistic analysis, various systems of 
numerical taxonomy are likely to become "the next big thing" in the near 
future.  I suspect that this will chiefly be because they provide the 
illusion of quantifiable data in a largely qualitative field: 
palaeontological taxonomy.

I have great misgivings about this, mainly because for a few years these 
ideas become scientific gospel.  Inevitably they will be supeseded by "the 
next, next big thing".  To an extent I am playing Devil's advocate here, 
because I recognise that these are stepping-stones toward a more definitive 
understanding of the subject, but I would hate to see equally useful 
classification systems fall out of use, merely as the result of prevailing 
fashion.

If we strive to make our classification systems obey imagined natural laws, 
we are doomed to failure.  All such classification systems are an 
artificial construct, so we should seek to stabilise the notation we use.  
Linnean binomens have been with us for well over 200 years, and any 
reasonably literate and numerate person should be able to convert such 
names into numbers for the purposes of statistical analysis.

Numerical taxonomy will have its uses, and I am sure it will work well 
in providing solutions to problems posed by certain data sets, but we must 
maintain a sense of proportion and strive for stability in taxonomic 
notation, as well as utility.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
  /""""\   | Paul Jeffery,   [The Fat Bloke with the Shells]          
 | 0  0 |  | Room PA205,  Department of Palaeontology,                          
 (  oo  )  | The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.   
 | \__/ |  |----------------------------------------------------------------|
  \    /     Smile, and the world wonders what you've been doing ...        |
 -|____|-  |----------------------------------------------------------------|
___________| Tel: +44 (0)171 938 8793 [9277 - Fax]  INTERNET: paj@nhm.ac.uk   
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-