Is it possible to measure everything

Advanced Search. I agree to this site's Privacy Policy. Opinion Break barriers between marketing, BD, capture and proposal groups to maximize your profits Too often marketing, BD, capture and proposal groups operate in silos, often with disastrous results. Here's how you can get them to work together.

Read More. Requirements are growing for supply chain risk management and contractors need to embrace them not just as a business necessity but as a competitive differentiator. A veteran of the small business world offers sage advice on four crucial consideration to prepare for when your company leaves the confines of the small business tier. More Opinion. The amazing Robert Sternberg , a very prominent psychologist, has just issued his latest book, College Admissions for the 21st Century , which must be close to his th book or so.

He is a leading, maybe the leading, critic of the sort of standardized tests that measure what is measurable rather than what really matters. Even wisdom is a subject that is receiving much attention by scientific-minded scholars these days. Good judgment, however, while as much a component of wisdom as anything else, is scarcely mentioned or written about in scholarly journals, including those focusing on management.

How can something so important be almost totally neglected by those who advise our organizations? Back to Sternberg. So much of life cannot be measured yet is still lived and enjoyed. We can only be influenced by the past, not affect it. Are there other things we can't measure. On general we don't bother with thibgs that can't be measured. We think of the choices we didn't make as just a valid as what we do do, so that got reality.

And same with time we don't really like to treat different times as if some are more real than others. So it seems likely that anything that exists physically but can't be measured must have some kind of symmetry to things we can measure. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Can we measure everything? Asked 6 years, 2 months ago.

In addition to these two conditions, mathematical models are necessary to connect the theory and its observable indicators. Since these models assume a variable that can only be measured with error, our measurements may not reflect an exact quantity. If it exists in some amount, then it is capable of being measured. For instance, before Santorio Santorio invented the first thermometer, no one could express the temperature with a numerical value.

However, temperature still existed, even before the existence of humankind. On the other hand, a religious person can claim that there are some metaphysical objects believed to exist but which cannot be quantified.

Therefore, the existence of something does not mean that it can be quantified — or at least, not by humankind. There are reasons to be optimistic about the measurement of unobservable objects.

First, most unobservable things have observable consequences. An introverted person would tend to have a hard time being in front of a group of people. Measurements can focus on objective, behavioral reflections of a particular trait.

This can be achieved by creating an instrument that is designed to measure the desired characteristic. The patient can be given a questionnaire and answer certain questions about the trait being measured. Our knowledge is very limited. If we cannot quantify an object either due to its hidden constructs or our inability to measure it, this does not mean that this object does not exist or it cannot be measured. Search Search. Filter by type:. Articles Category Tag.