No Provable Limits Tòscientiic Knowledge'

In an article concerning problems that are impossible to solve exactly, but which can be computed in an average sense, J. F. Traub and H. Wozniakowski raised a challenge: \We believe it is time to up the ante and try to prove there are unanswerable scientiic questions. In other words, we would like to establish a physical GG odel's theorem.""1]. Out of this idea grew a workshop and computer scientists, all with various visions ofìimitations', involving the natural sciences or otherwise. Some of the ruminations of this group, and their subsequent email exchanges, have been collected in a Santa Fe Institute Report 2]. The title of this report, \On Limits", omits reference tòscien-tiic knowledge', which was largely unaddressed at this workshop. Likewise, published commentaries in the media concerning this workshop did not take notice of this basic concept 3]. In this article one concept of`scientiic knowl-edge' will be outlined, and the issue of limits of this scientiic knowledge will be addressed. Clearly, any tentative deenition of`scientiic knowledge' places a limitation on the range of knowledge that will be considered to bèscientiic'. To be 1