Friday, November 4, 2011

Not predicting the future

I came across the following quote in an old USFWS report today:
In essence, then, mathematical models applied to real-world situations can be used only as a tool to guide management decisions having future effects on an ecosystem. In contrast, models cannot be used to tell a manager what the future will look like.
Say whut?!? How can you do the first without doing the second? Can someone explain this to me please?