Invited talk @ RAM colloquium TU Dortmund on January 26 2024

On 26th  January 2024 9am, Simon is invited to give a talk at the RAM Colloquium TU Dortmund:

What is a spatio-temporal model good for? Validity as a function of purpose and the questions answered by a model

The concept of validity is a cornerstone of science. Valid methods make science “scientific”, while invalid methods are bound to deliver
falsehoods. Given this central role in science, it is somewhat surprising to find that validity remains a rather obscure concept.
In data-driven science, the question of validity is often reduced to a matter of ground truth data. In this talk, instead, I take a pragmatic
approach to the validity of spatio-temporal models. I argue that such a model is valid only by delivering a valid answer to a particular
kind of spatio-temporal question, corresponding to its information purpose.