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> Physicists don’t understand their own theory any better than a typical smartphone user understands what’s going on inside the device. This article seems to t
by nitwit005 7y ago
> Physicists don’t understand their own theory any better than a typical smartphone user understands what’s going on inside the device.
This article seems to take a confused definition of "understand". Not admitting to a full and complete understanding is rather different from knowing nothing at all.
And to give your typical smartphone user some credit, most of them probably have some idea of the concepts of radio waves and computers, even if they don't grasp the details.
- titanomachy 7y agoI think it's a somewhat legitimate comparison. The average person can use a smartphone but couldn't tell you much about why it works the way it does. They can accomplish all sorts of things with it but they have little insight of its internal structure. It's the same with Schroedinger's equation: I can use it just fine, and it's clearly a useful way of looking at the world, but I don't understand why reality is like that.