Re: [Phys-l] "Unlearning"

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 09/11/2010 05:49 PM, Scott Orshan wrote in part:

>   My "favorite" piece of false information that... Red+Green makes 
> Yellow, Blue+Green makes Cyan, etc., like on a TV screen.

> As far as physics is concerned, Red plus Green simply makes Red plus 
> Green.

That's true and important ... but the opposite statement is also
true and important.

It all depends on how you define "physics".

The TV screen sits in the middle of the Venn diagram, at the
intersection of physics, technology, and biology.

-- We agree that if you define physics so as to exclude everything
 except for the bio-technology of TV screens, that would be horribly
 restrictive.

-- On the other hand, if you define physics so as to exclude
 biology, exclude technology, and exclude everything else that
 is not "pure physics", that would also be horribly restrictive.

I vote for an inclusive, expansive definition of physics.

The TV screen is technology, and it is also biology ... but it is
still physics, too.

There is a rather strong, longstanding tradition in the physics
community that being a physicist gives you a license to be
interested in almost anything.

In the _Feynman Lectures on Physics_ there is an entire chapter
devoted to "Color Vision".  Feynman thought the CIE horseshoe
was "in bounds" in his definition of physics ... and that
doesn't mean he didn't appreciate the distinction between
red+green and yellow.