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[Phys-L] Re: model vs. truth



Hi Justin-
I respond to your question with a parable:
A mouse running on a treadmill says, "everything has a
destination. Where am I going?"
Regards,
Jack

On Tue, 31 May 2005, Justin Parke wrote:

Some were reluctant -- in the recent thread on religion and science -- to use the word "truth" to describe the goal of science, preferring the word "model" instead.

Once Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism were "nailed down" (I am told) that physicists believed they had solved the universe, then quantum mechanics came along. So it is understandable that physicists would be more cautious now in declaring that they have found truth since their theories are always subject to change as new data is revealed.

But isn't this a limiting process? That is, as theories make more accurate and more general predictions we consider them better than older theories which made less accurate and less general predictions. Isn't the limit as t goes to infinity truth?

Justin



--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley
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