Editorial - Caveat emptor

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware! Let the wouldbe bio-medical engineer beware of slogans! It has become fashionable among certain bioengineers to invest ideas such as feedback-control, information content, probabilistic mlodel, systems analysis approach abstracted from physical systems where they have proven applicable-with a certain transcendental or mvstical aura as though these were of nmetaphysical significanice wvithout reference to any specific setting. This is the kind of nonsense which somnetiml-es impresses the uninitiated. The above mentionied ideas have provided extremely useful models in understanding a certain range of natural phenomeina. However, in extending these ideas fromn engineering to biology caution is needed. In particular, it is necessary to show, experimientally, wvithin the termiis of each subject matter, that such ideas are relevant or applicable. These are not yet scientific theories or even hypotheses unless they are demonstrable in observations of particular biological phenomena.