To be fair, the original comment was even more more arrogant than T Clark's response
So you base your philosophy on fairy tales rather than on solid fact?
— Cornwell1 — pfirefry
I shouldn't say this, but I will - all philosophies are based on fairy tales. — T Clark
So that's literally what is done. SCM is a fairy tale. It's nor true nor false. Just a tale. It contains six chapters:
First - Put together what you know about the subject at hand and how you know it.
Second - set up what we call a Site Conceptual Model (SCM). Not really a theory. It's more comprehensive than that. It's the sum total of everything we know about something, how the different parts fit together, and an understanding of the uncertainty about that knowledge. An SCM can apply to a single property where we're trying to clean up contamination or the whole universe, depending on the scope of our interest.
Third - Find the places where the SCM is inadequate - do your best to figure out where there are gaps in your knowledge or where there are significant uncertainties.
Fourth - collect more data. Reformulate the SCM. Reevaluate its adequacy for the task at hand. Repeat as necessary.
Fifth - use the SCM to plan how to achieve your goals.
Sixth - based on the results of your attempts to meet
your goals, repeat the third and fourth steps if necessary.
Let's examine the chapters and offer some rational critique.
chapter 1
Put together what you know about the subject at hand and how you know it.
Okay, let's do that. On a golf terrain, a brown circular stain surfaced on the grass. Probably broken barrels, illegally dumped, as we have cleaned a similar site not far away from here too. Measurements and observations of the case at hand show similarities and differences. There are barrels buried. Contents are different and partially known.
Chapter 2
Set up what we call a Site Conceptual Model (SCM). Not really a theory. It's more comprehensive than that. It's the sum total of everything we know about something, how the different parts fit together, and an understanding of the uncertainty about that knowledge. An SCM can apply to a single property where we're trying to clean up contamination or the whole universe, depending on the scope of our interest.
We have cleaned up hundreds of polluted terrains where barrels were illegally dumped. We know what poisons we encountered, how to take out the barrels safely, how to transport the barrels safely, remove the poison from the barrels later on (though this is done by other agencies), we have a list of toxins we are likely to encounter, we know their consequences when we are exposed to them, we know their properties, etcetera, etcetera. We also know the uncertainties, approximations made, limits of applicability, etc. We have a full inventory of the equipment used in the battle. We know the universe of illegally dumping barrels with poison and it's shortcomings. It's just a universe, not true or not true, but it just exists. A The sum total of the knowledge about the poison barrel universe and the knowledge of what is unknown. Kind of like the universe the EOD assesses, but more complicated (more or less dangerous). This is a long chapter. The title of this fairy: SCM.
Chapter 3
Find the places where the SCM is inadequate - do your best to figure out where there are gaps in your knowledge or where there are significant uncertainties.
In chapter 3 the characters described in chapter 1 and 2 meet, and in an intense romantic affair they exchange juices. We can see this happening in many fairy tales. Universal knowledge, found in the poison barrel universe of the SCM, is positively adjusted by the case at hand and the SCM offers a great a priori guide for the investigation at hand, after establishing poisoned barrels are involved.
Chapter 4
Collect more data. Reformulate the SCM. Reevaluate its adequacy for the task at hand. Repeat as necessary.
The characters continue to make love and the come to know each other better the more they engage, the more they know each other, if necessary. They fill each other in and even give each other meaning. How romantic!
Chapter 5
[/b]Use the SCM to plan how to achieve your goals.[/b]
We can start solving our local problem. We start digging on the firm base of the adjusted SCM.
Chapter 6
Based on the results of your attempts to meet
your goals, repeat the third and fourth steps if necessary.
During digging, no doubt we meet new challenges and new difficulties. To find a solution we can invoke the SCM, but it's unlikely we will find solutions as the arisen challenges, unknowns and difficulties were not part yet of the known part of the universe the SCM addresses. Again, a romantic encounter follows, untill enough juices have been exchanged. Then the digging continues, untill one fine day a perfect digging will be possible. No more love making will be involved except to exchange tiny bits of fluids, so only a small kiss will suffice. Happily ever after...?
This philosophy is a realism about a metaphysical universe guiding and pulling through our observations and actions. We get to know this reality bit by bit, and it gets modified every time we investigate. We converge on reality by recursive relation (last chapters of your fairy tale, as you, unwillingly, admitted it to be). It's naive realism. An exciting fairy tale!