Re: Simple explanations. Was: what are the labs for?

["Dewey Dykstra, Jr." <dykstrad@bsumail.idbsu.edu>]

> Dewey, you are likely to start a philosophical thread here.

Who?  Me?  ;^)

> On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Dewey Dykstra, Jr. wrote:
>
> > Does the set of "simple" explanations not overlap the set of
> > mathematical ones?
>
> Surely they must; but how populous is the intersection of these two sets?
>
> > Is the set of "complicated" explanations more or less identical to the
> > mathematical ones?
>
> "Complicated" isn't a useful descriptor. One who is fluent in mathematics
> will find the mathematical treatments simpler, both practically and
> conceptually. It's really difficult to construct a simple explanation
> which actually works and has broad and general applicability. Usually you
> hit upon the idea for the good simple explanations only *after* you've
> thought it through with math.

What about good "explanations" which do not involve formal mathematics?
What about mechanical models?  Sure lots of models can be described with
formal mathematics, but can't models be thought of as physical or
mechanical ones by someone without having to resort to formal mathematics?

> > In what sense is a mathematical explanation really an explanation?
>
> This one I really like. In my opinion there are no "explanations", only
> different types of descriptions (models). If they appeal to us, and we are
> fluent enough with them to get correct results and to account for all that
> we observe, then we have a good feeling about them which we interpret as
> meaning that we have achieved "understanding", and that the models have
> "explained" something. We fool ourselves this way a lot.

Yes, I agree.  This gives our descriptions (models) the status of
constructs which human beings make.  That they tell us what really _is_ is
a manifestation of how we fool ourselves.

> Someone once said that "The only models which work are the mathematical
> ones."

But, what about mechanical models?  Don't they "work".

> > Just wondering...
>
> That's a good way to start. :-)
>
> 	-- Donald Simanek

Still wondering...

Dewey

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                   Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics                    Dept:  (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418        Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University                  dykstrad@bsumail.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive                   Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570                       novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938.
"Every [person's] world picture is and always remains a construct
of [their] mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence."
--E. Schrodinger in Mind and Matter, 1958.
"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe."  --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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