Re: reifying energy

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 11:20 -0400 5/9/02, Bob Sciamanda wrote:
> Even in physics questions, we are speaking of a model - a convenient way
> for us to view the situation.  In truth we will never have any verifiably
> "correct" idea of the ultimate nature of objective reality in any real,
> existential sense - we can speak only of USEFUL models - a way of looking
> at our calculations which yield verifiably measurable results.  These
> models are not "right or wrong", they are more or less useful in accuracy
> and scope and more or less weird according to our subjective personal
> and/or cultural proclivities.
I like your discussion here, but I would take minor exception to the
statement that models are not "right or wrong." To the extent that a
model gives wrong predictions, it is wrong. If all it's predictions
are wrong, then I think it is safe to call the model wrong (an
equivalent word would be "useless'). I agree, however, that we cannot
characterize a model as "right" because it can only be right if it
corresponds to an objective reality that we can never know. The
utility of a model depends on lots of things in addition to whether
it just makes correct predictions. Even one that makes wrong
predictions, or which is based on physical principles we know to be
not true can still be useful if the predictions it makes are "good
enough" for the purposes intended. An earth-centric celestial
navigation system is a good example of such a model--based on a known
wrong premise, but gives answers that are good enough to get ships
from San Francisco to Hong Kong without their running aground very
often. On the other hand the astrological model, based on the same
wrong cosmogony as the navigational one, not only uses outdated data
but its predictions are worthless (except, of course, to the
astrologers who rake in the money from the suckers who don't
understand these things), and so we can take that model to be
"wrong," IMO.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

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