Popper and computer induction

Introduction In a recent article in BioEssays, John F. Allen uses Popper's philosophy of science to argue on p. 107 that ``There is no induction machine'', and that looking for one will result in ``waste of resources spent on the search itself.'' This argument is of great interest to me because I started my research life as a graduate student in philosophy of science in Popper's department at the London School of Economics in the years 1966±68. Popper had just published his book Conjectures and Refutations, 1963 in which he says on p. 53: ``Induction, i.e. inference based on many observations, is a myth. It is neither a psychological fact, nor a fact of ordinary life, nor one of scientific procedure.'' Indeed I remember Popper making the statement: ``induction is a myth'' in one of his lectures in 1967, to which he added: ``and those who claim that there is induction do not know what they are talking about.'' I need hardly add that I was completely convinced by Popper's very forceful arguments for this thesis which I believed for many years.