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Re: Fields etc



Regarding Joel's response to Jim's imaginary dialog:
.... But to stir the pot a little,
couldn't one turn your discussion up-side-down and say that electrons aren't
real, but just a handy device to do calculations concerning what is real,
E&B fields? (It being merely historical accident that this handy fictitious
device was thought of first before the reality of the fields were
discovered.)

Joel (eagerly awaiting comments)

Well, if fields are fictitious (as claimed by Jim) and particles are
fictitious (as claimed by Joel) what's left that is real? I think fields
and particles may exhaust our repertoire of elementary ontological physical
concepts.

David Bowman
dbowman@georgetowncollege.edu