Proving What We Already "Know"

[Belacqua]

Things "are" as they "act".

A table is solid to most things.  It is partly see-through to X-rays, and almost completely transparent to neutrinos.  That "empty space" is filled with electron clouds that experience repulsive and attractive forces.  That isn't empty.

I think you're in near complete agreement with BennyBoy here. 

We may object to his use of the word "empty" in relation to solid matter. If it's more correct to say that there are electron clouds instead of empty space, that doesn't really change the argument. (But is it true to say that the clouds "experience" forces? Do electron clouds have experiences? This is perhaps a metaphor...?)

Some things encounter the electron cloud as pass-throughable, and others don't.

What we perceive with one sense or with one type of test isn't all of reality.  It is exciting that physics can drill down into the nature of things at different sizes and levels of interactions.  Every one of them are "real" in the context they are explored.

I think we all agree that it's exciting when physicists are able to describe what's going on at different "levels" and under different conditions. "Drill down" is an interesting metaphor.

But to say that each level that the drill bit gets down to is itself "real" is the same as what BennyBoy is saying, isn't it? Truth-in-context.