Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A form of "prediction" that deals with the past rather than the future, sometimes useful in testing theories whose actual predictions are too long-term to be of immediate use.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The problem is that you’re trying to perform retrodiction, which is like a prediction about the past.

    Hardy’s Paradox, or The Economist is Dismal at Science | Live Granades 2009

  • Before you answer, try some retrodiction: if a mouse gene is expressed throughout the embryo at 7.5 dpc (2 weeks before birth), you can hypothesize that those transcripts are functional.

    A Dubious "Opportunity" for IDers 2007

  • Before you answer, try some retrodiction: if a mouse gene is expressed throughout the embryo at 7.5 dpc (2 weeks before birth), you can hypothesize that those transcripts are functional.

    A Dubious "Opportunity" for IDers 2007

  • This includes such features as modeling and idealization, the use of theoretical concepts and abstractions, and the modification of theories by the absorption of empirical data through prediction and retrodiction.

    Philosophy of Technology Franssen, Maarten 2009

  • JAM: Before you answer, try some retrodiction: if a mouse gene is expressed throughout the embryo at 7.5 dpc (2 weeks before birth), you can hypothesize that those transcripts are functional.

    A Dubious "Opportunity" for IDers 2007

  • This axiom uses a biconditional, so that it can be used for retrodiction; this is typical of the more recent formulations of common sense inertia.

    Logic and Artificial Intelligence Thomason, Richmond 2008

  • She also cites the failure of early causal theories to deal with retrodiction.

    Logic and Artificial Intelligence Thomason, Richmond 2008

  • If you want to see how hairy prediction/retrodiction can get, in QM, check out this.

    Please Tell Me What “God” Means Sean 2007

  • We find positive grounds in experience for thinking this supposition right (as in cases of simultaneous causation), such that only it can actually do justice to the world as we experience it; we also find that acting and reasoning on this supposition (in prediction, retrodiction, application) shows it to be continually confirmed.

    A Little Bit of Metaphysics II 2006

  • This is retrodiction, not prediction: [18] granting Blake another five to ten years of relatively good health to pursue the work he loved, can the three of you sketch out, as a critical experiment, a brief descriptive catalogue of what might have been or almost was?

    Introduction 2003

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