4 ms·
I think this (Occam's Razor) clearly illustrates the limit of our perception/comprehension though. It is entirely possible that due to our comprehension of the
by sixdimensional 7y ago
I think this (Occam's Razor) clearly illustrates the limit of our perception/comprehension though. It is entirely possible that due to our comprehension of the complexity involved with dimensionality, we can be only vaguely aware (if at all) of a more complex system than the one we can perceive/comprehend. I'm reminded of the book Flatland[1].
It is fine to attempt to apply our rubrics, but I am not sure how to quantify the limits of our perception. Perhaps Occam's Razor and current simpler theories give a useful working tool for us to reason within our local known (or perceived/comprehended) universe.
The best way I can think of to ask this is, how do we factor in the "unknown unknown"? It is maddening not to be able to.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland
- gbrown 7y agoI mean, that's why people do theoretical physics in higher dimensions and then search desperately for ways to test their theories. We can extrapolate with mathematics in infinite ways, but until we can find ways to test things it's hard to do better than "find the simplest explanation that accounts for what you can observe".