Thread:User talk:Tmtoulouse/Bump: You know that obnoxious thing people do on the internet when they've said something and they feel they haven't been paid enough attention? I'm doing that./reply (27)

A model is a set of causative or predictive rules/statements used to simulate some observed phenomenon.

An element of a model is a specific causative or predictive rule/statement with in the model's set.

A prediction is a specific predicted data point generated from the model to be compared with actual observation.

"The universe will cease to exist on Friday 8th July 2011" and "The universe will continue to exist after Friday 8th July 2011" are predictions not models.

A model would be something like: Since Gargurtle the giant turtle who exists outside of space and time and eats universes is coming for us next and will reach us on Friday 8th July 2011.

The elements of the model are: {All existing scientific theories}+the existence of Gargurtle

The prediction is: "The universe will cease to exist on Friday 8th July 2011"

The Gargurtle model adds an element to our model that adds zero explanatory power except for a single future prediction.

Until Friday 8th July 2011 the Gargurtle model has less epistemological value than the standard model.