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[Phys-L] model vs. truth



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
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