Re: Voting, moderation and the charter

On 6 Jun, 20:50, micha...@xxxxxxxxxx (michaeld) wrote:

The observed expansion of the universe is understood in the context of
well established inflationary models with a cosmological constant.

The cosmological constant used in this context is a fudge factor added
to force the theory to fit the facts -- if that's 'understanding' at
all then it's a pretty poor understanding.

The fact that we exist, that there are any observations to make, is
beyond out current understanding.
Check out "The Goldilocks Enigma" by Paul Davies to get a feel for how
incomplete our understanding is, based on current observations and
what we cannot (yet?) observe.

I disagree with much of the content of that book and Paul Davies'

So does Paul Davies:-) He gives seven possible 'ultimate expanations'
-- in other words we don't have one.

perspective in general, but I won't sidetrack the discussion by going into
details.

It is total presumption and hubris to suggest we are near a complete
understanding. How could you know we are near a complete
understanding? To do that you must understand what you are trying to
understand! How do you know that there are not an infinite number of
things to understand?

That is precisely what I have not been saying. I don't think we are
remotely near understanding absolutely everything. I'm talking in the
context of currently accessible observations and phenomena only.

Take physics for example. It is an amazing fact that essentially all the
phenomena of the everyday, macroscopic world, with its awesome complexity
and richness, can be understood in the context of a beautifully simple
theory like quantum electrodynamics. The standard model (QED + weak force
+ strong force) is so successful that a major problem for physicists
trying to go beyond it is that the particle accelerators have turned up
little new in the last few decades. We've had the fact the neutrino turned
out to be massive for example, but nothing really fundamental - instead
the results keep on confirming and reconfirming the standard model.
Physicists have become a victim of their own success in this regard.

This doesn't mean to suggest there aren't any problems left (even in the
context of currently accessible phenomena). How to extract a predictive
theory that is consistent with both the standard model and general
relativity (if indeed it is possible) is a major challenge. And it
certainly doesn't mean that absolutely *everything* is close to being
understood.

In fact, we cannot give a near complete
explanation of anything in FULL detail. As Socrates suggested, "we
know nothing" absolutely (even if we are near abolutely knowing
something). Can you give an example of something we have near absolute
knowledge of?

Mathematical theorems that have been proved are an example of absolute
knowledge, at least modulo the assumption that the human mind is remotely
rational. If you allow the possibility that we are all completely
delusional, then yes all bets are off.

You have to assume predicates. How do you know they are knowledge in
any useful sense? For instance you have to assume things like
'absolute straightness of a line'. Who's ever seen an absolutely
straight line? See David Hume THN B1 for more scepticism in these
matters.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Voting, moderation and the charter
    ... understanding, then came Einstein} ... context of currently accessible observations and phenomena only. ... the results keep on confirming and reconfirming the standard model. ... Mathematical theorems that have been proved are an example of absolute ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Its My Job to Understand Gravity
    ... >> It is known of as principle. ... >> Understanding itself is absolute. ... >> You are misguided Patrick. ... >> Modern physics is more imagination than it is understanding. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Knowledge and precision
    ... false claims, so when they carefully word their claims so that they ... It's a bit like reduction, ... Justified true belief doesn't have to be absolute. ... context, that's perfectly true. ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: setting innerHTML makes relative addresses absolute
    ... >>context. ... Therefore the relative URLs are expanded to absolute ones ... Nobody can argue with the statement "Mozilla views differently than MS". ... RelativeURIs to AbsoluteURIs but it only does it when a fragment is added ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.jscript)
  • Re: Why can only humans observe?
    ... improve their understanding or I will discover the error in my ideas. ... > interaction take place resulting in the creation of 'our' matter, ... Here's a quote from Newton: ... Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself and from its own ...
    (sci.physics)