3 ms·
Even if I conceded that philosophy of science is not useful for scientist (I doubt that's the case) my comment was mainly concerned about the layman's understan
by amasad 8y ago
Even if I conceded that philosophy of science is not useful for scientist (I doubt that's the case) my comment was mainly concerned about the layman's understand of the world.
While "Shutup and calculate" is useful for invention and technology it's detrimental to our understanding of the world which, arguably, is why science was so useful to start with.
For an interesting discussion on the power of explanations check out David Duetsch's work in the book the Beginning of Infinity. He claims that explanations are fundamental to progress.
- GW150914 8y agoOther than book deals, tv spots and entertainment, what have all of the many Interpretations of QM gotten us? By contrast what has shut up and calculate gotten us? All modern electronics for a start...
- goatlover 8y agoGood thing Einstein didn't just shut up and calculate.
- GW150914 8y agoSays you, by claiming credit for philosophy in his work. Ironically if Einstein had taken a non-philosophical view of QM maybe his genius could have been applied to its advancement rather than disproven railings against it on philosophical grounds.
- goatlover 8y agoEinstein's paper on the photoelectric effect helped inspire the QM revolution. But I had Relativity in mind, the thing he's most well known for. As for his later life, he was searching for the TOE, which is an ongoing thing. Problem is that harmonizing gravity with QM has proved very difficult. As for debating QM, it's quite possible that will eventually lead to a new understanding. That's why shut and calculate is insufficient to advance the field. You need the theoretical side spinning out ideas for the shut and calculate types to carry out experiments and plug the data into equations. Some of these ideas range into the metaphysical side of things until they can be empirically tested.
- smaddox 8y agoI assume you're talking about "God does not play dice". Einstein's famous quote may yet be proven correct. Everettian theory (many-worlds interpretation), Bohmian Mechanics, and Exotic Probability theory are all deterministic interpretations of quantum mechanics. My money is on Exotic Probability theory winning out, with a lower level physical theory (perhaps causal networks?), providing the exotic probabilities. Einstein was fully capable of discovering exotic probability theory, having contributed greatly to the development of bosonic statistics. Unfortunately, he did not, and we've been floundering about with string theory and the like ever since his famous quote.
- goatlover 8y agoAdd in a Feynman quote: "In fact it is necessary for the very existence that minds exist which do not allow that nature must satisfy some preconceived conditions, like those of our philosopher."