RE: A Simple Question...or 3!
November 19, 2012 at 11:20 am
(This post was last modified: November 19, 2012 at 11:36 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(November 19, 2012 at 10:14 am)Daniel Wrote: The universe doesn't work on the laws we give it, it has its own. The laws of physics are what we invented (theorized) they're not something we derived as absolute universal truth.We don't "give it" laws, we discover the laws. The theories that we leverage to explain the laws are not the laws themselves ie - the "theory of gravity" is not the "law of gravity". We "invented" these laws and theories as much as we "invented" flight...which is to say not at all. I've always loved that word, "invention"...it lays bare a sort of hubris about our actions and accomplishments that to my mind..is not entirely warranted. Nevertheless it's a useful word, and generally speaking we use it in a context where it's application isn't entirely disagreeable. However, on the subject of natural law and it's attendant theories the term has gone well past it's breaking point, imho. "Theory" is not synonymous with "invention", a hypothesis would be closer to an invention..but even then the relationship between the two words is tenuous in the best of cases. We don't invent the phenomena, we don't invent the evidence, all we have "invented" in the loosest definition of the word, is how we communicate the contents (and accuracy) of either between each other. Nothing in science is advertised as a "universal truth"..so mentioning that they are no such thing is superfluous.
As Stimbo mentioned, as far as we can tell physics is at play anywhere in this universe we care to look. If we want to move outside of the frame of reference of all of physics -not just one specific theory or law- we would have to leave anywhere we care to look. We might assume (for the lulz) that something beyond this "place" exists...but we have no observations to back that up (and how would we make such observations anyway?). We might invoke a thought experiment...but it's clear that our ability to imagine something is no guarantee of it's existence...hell, it can barely be said to be a reason to assume that it might exist- if the history of our imaginative conclusions is any indicator.
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