Nonuniqueness in Geoscientific Inference (Uncertainty Theory in Artificial Intelligence Series)

Scientific inference aims to understand the external world and the influence of our actions on it, and arises as an interaction of hypothesis, observation and inferential procedures. Of these, only observation originates in the external world, although even this is the perception of the observer. Non-uniqueness is a great problem to objective scientific inference, this book discusses the causes of non-uniqueness and suggests that they are not entirely removable. It argues that truth is not manifest and that progress in science is not sequential but is achieved by tentative, theorisation, and systematic error elimination. The book will be suitable for professional engineers involved in geophysics, non-uniqueness and artificial intelligence, as well as postgraduate students and researchers working in this field.