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The most intriguing about stories such as this is that our own ignorance on topics such as e.g. dark matter will, at some point in the future, be something a fr

by rjf72 7y ago

The most intriguing about stories such as this is that our own ignorance on topics such as e.g. dark matter will, at some point in the future, be something a fresh grad will look back on with bemusement - how could we not possibly have managed to discover [x] as it gradually comes to be seen as self evident? This is long since the case for Newtonian mechanics which are now the domain of secondary education, and is already starting to become the case for relativity for those of sufficient education. It's kind of an interesting thought experiment to try to put yourself in the mindset of a people before the discovery of something and trying to imagine how you would have perceived the world and if you yourself might have conceived of such notions. For instance the idea that all objects fall at the same rate of speed is something that's oddly enough an extremely recent discovery. The tale of the apple falling on Newton's head dates to but 350 years ago. We, of today, are separated by then by little more than about 4 lifetimes. It feels at times that science progresses through 1% genius and 99% creativity. Newton's gravity is, relative to the times, no more simple or complex than Einstein's gravity and undoubtedly whatever we may eventually find to be the source of dark matter. The tricky part is that the universe has this habit of requiring us to cast aside what we think we know and look towards paths that seem insane. A feather falls at the same rate of speed as a bowling ball? Time itself can move differently for people in the same location based upon their relative velocities? Physical distances can literally contract or expand again for people in the same location and again based on their relative velocities? Objects themselves can bend what seems to be emptiness and, in turn, bend light itself (to say nothing of also having an impact on time)? These ideas are mostly so difficult to develop not because of mathematical or technical problems, but because they sound insane. It's really quite a blessing for the inquisitive and creative that we seem to live in a universe that prides itself in as being as defiant of intuition as it possibly can.

YayamiOmate 7y ago
I doubt that anything like that will become standard curriculum. Some conclusions and effects might become common knowglede, but the mechanisms and theory not. It would have to be taught in high scholl, and even then not everyone have a complete high school knowledge. People don't generally know Newtonian mechanics unless they are physics undergrads or graduates. You need calculus to get it. I would argue that Newton's theory was more complex because it required new math. Einstein didn't. The math was already there, and he managed to incept his idea without it. Riemannian geometry just simplified description. It's similar to Maxwell. He had electromagnetism in over 20 equations, then some lad whose name I forgot, made work and closed it down to four, that again 99 percent or more people don't know, though they govern nearly everything at our scale. Touch, vision and chemistry is described by them. I can come with only two things that are part of everyday life, that lie outside. Gravity, in the part that makes us stick to the planet, and atomic energy, though that's fast trasformed back to EM domain. Everything else seems to be far away, except for the fact they make things stable, but we don't harness it. To me ingenuity and creativity are essentially the same. It's the abilty to have those insane ideas, perhaps genius is to pick important ones to ponder upon. I think we agree, that scientific breakthroughs seem to be based on making up grander picture, where what you physically see is some kind of special case of generally opposite rules. One of the greatest example is the idea that movement is generally self sustained, seems crazy here in the atmosphere, where the 1st theories said, that it requires force and work to keep going. Something we all experience. Well, that's a long tought-chain. Hope someone's find it interesting.
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  You’re thinking of Heaviside
- gmueckl 7y ago
  When pondering progress in physics, do not underestimate the role of technological progress and the impact that has on experimental evidence, which are at the heart of all grest theories. These would not have been dreamt up without certain experimental data as the starring point for a new explanation. Quantum mechanics required the weirdness of the blackbody radiation spectrum to spring to life. The special theory of relativity is based on the observation that the Maxwell equations are not Galileo invariant and the results of their strange Lorentz invariance can be observed. The general theory of relativity is baed on the realization that despite efforts to measure a difference, inertial mass and gravitational mass always have the same value. It took time for these things to become measurable and to make people go "hmmm..." and think about nature in new ways. The answers are creative and genial, but they required starting points. And creating those takes time.

by rjf72 7y ago

YayamiOmate 7y ago

I doubt that anything like that will become standard curriculum. Some conclusions and effects might become common knowglede, but the mechanisms and theory not. It would have to be taught in high scholl, and even then not everyone have a complete high school knowledge. People don't generally know Newtonian mechanics unless they are physics undergrads or graduates. You need calculus to get it. I would argue that Newton's theory was more complex because it required new math. Einstein didn't. The math was already there, and he managed to incept his idea without it. Riemannian geometry just simplified description. It's similar to Maxwell. He had electromagnetism in over 20 equations, then some lad whose name I forgot, made work and closed it down to four, that again 99 percent or more people don't know, though they govern nearly everything at our scale. Touch, vision and chemistry is described by them. I can come with only two things that are part of everyday life, that lie outside. Gravity, in the part that makes us stick to the planet, and atomic energy, though that's fast trasformed back to EM domain. Everything else seems to be far away, except for the fact they make things stable, but we don't harness it. To me ingenuity and creativity are essentially the same. It's the abilty to have those insane ideas, perhaps genius is to pick important ones to ponder upon. I think we agree, that scientific breakthroughs seem to be based on making up grander picture, where what you physically see is some kind of special case of generally opposite rules. One of the greatest example is the idea that movement is generally self sustained, seems crazy here in the atmosphere, where the 1st theories said, that it requires force and work to keep going. Something we all experience. Well, that's a long tought-chain. Hope someone's find it interesting.

selimthegrim 7y ago
You’re thinking of Heaviside
gmueckl 7y ago
When pondering progress in physics, do not underestimate the role of technological progress and the impact that has on experimental evidence, which are at the heart of all grest theories. These would not have been dreamt up without certain experimental data as the starring point for a new explanation. Quantum mechanics required the weirdness of the blackbody radiation spectrum to spring to life. The special theory of relativity is based on the observation that the Maxwell equations are not Galileo invariant and the results of their strange Lorentz invariance can be observed. The general theory of relativity is baed on the realization that despite efforts to measure a difference, inertial mass and gravitational mass always have the same value. It took time for these things to become measurable and to make people go "hmmm..." and think about nature in new ways. The answers are creative and genial, but they required starting points. And creating those takes time.