Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Call for a return to rigour in models

Nature volume 467, page 661 (2010) Cite this article

Save article
View saved research

Subjects

Why are numerous reactions to the Nowak et al. paper (Nature 466, 1057–1062; 2010) so ferocious? And how is it possible that theorists even seem to disagree about mathematics? An important key to the heatedness of the debate is that many theory papers on the evolution of cooperation use the Price equation. This is regularly treated as if its generality makes it the E = mc2 of population genetics. Those who use it, however, tend to forget that it is only general because it contains no modelling assumptions. And without these, one cannot derive theoretical predictions.

The Price equation inspires theoreticians to confuse identity with causality, and probability theory with statistics (M. van Veelen J. Theor. Biol. 237, 412–426; 2005). It is this theoretical blur that obfuscates whether or not claims are theoretical results that follow from actual model assumptions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Matthijs van Veelen, Julián García, Maurice W. Sabelis & Martijn Egas

Authors
  1. Matthijs van Veelen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julián García
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maurice W. Sabelis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Martijn Egas
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

See Comment, p.653

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Veelen, M., García, J., Sabelis, M. et al. Call for a return to rigour in models. Nature 467, 661 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467661d

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467661d

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing AI and Robotics

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics