Abstract
In the 1960s molecular population geneticists used Monte Carlo experiments to evaluate particular diffusion equation models. In this paper I examine the nature of this comparative evaluation and argue for three claims: first, Monte Carlo experiments are genuine experiments: second, Monte Carlo experiments can provide an important meansfor evaluating the adequacy of highly idealized theoretical models; and, third, the evaluation of the computational adequacy of a diffusion model with Monte Carlo experiments is significantlydifferent from the evaluation of the emperical adequacy of the same diffusion model.
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Dietrich, M.R. Monte Carlo experiments and the defense of diffusion models in molecular population genetics. Biol Philos 11, 339–356 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128786
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128786