Re: [Phys-l] What comes first, the equation or the explanation?

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

On 2011, Dec 21, , at 18:56, John Denker wrote:

> Actually, the only thing that makes sense to me is the spiral
> approach, where we introduce a new idea, connect it to one or
> two old ideas, and keep coming back to it over time, gradually
> building more and more connections.....
>
> The connections exist in some very high dimensional space,
> maybe 100 dimensions or 1000 dimensions, maybe more.  In
> any case, there is a theorem (Brouwer, 1911) that says you
> cannot map something from one dimension to another in a way
> that is one-to-one and continuous.  I call this the "flower
> pressing theorem".  It means you cannot serialize any nontrivial 
> topic in any natural way;  you *will* have to skip some things 
> and come back to them later.
>
> I am reminded of what William James had to say about this circa
> 1898.  What I call "connections" he called "associates".  Talking
> about ideas and how they are recalled:
>
> > Each of the associates is a hook to which it hangs, a means to fish
> > it up when sunk below the surface. Together they form a network of
> > attachments by which it is woven into the entire tissue of our
> > thought. The 'secret of a good memory' is thus the secret of forming
> > diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain.
>
> A student who has made only a few connections might be tempted
> to arrange them "in order" in one dimension ... whereas a
> professional has made so many connections that it is quite 
> impossible to fish up one idea all by itself, or to place the 
> ideas in any natural order.  I can choose some arbitrary order, 
> but others may choose differently, and I myself might choose 
> differently tomorrow.
>
> =============

James Burke"

"Connections approach to history

Connections explores an "Alternative View of Change" (the subtitle of the series) that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting for reasons of their own motivations (e.g. profit, curiosity, religious) with no concept of the final, modern result of what either their or their contemporaries' actions finally led to. The interplay of the results of these isolated events is what drives history and innovation, and is also the main focus of the series and its sequels"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)


bc  makes a connection.