3 ms·

What is it made of?

by frongpik 6y ago

What is it made of?

p1esk 6y ago
I have no idea. Doesn’t make it any less real though.
- frongpik 6y ago
  This is what I meant by a thought-terminating answer. Magnetic field is not a "vector field" because a "vector field" is a math abstraction, while magnetic field is real. Just like water is not a diff equation with boundary conditions, no matter how accurate that diff equation is.
m_mueller 6y ago
I think that is the wrong question to ask. A vector field is just a mathematical model to describe a natural phenomenon, as does curved spacetime for gravity. Those models have limitations under certain Conditions. For magnetism there are afaik quantum mechanical models available for all energy states while for gravity those seem to only work at lower energies. At the end, your question is about the nature of truth - what is behind all this. I don't think anyone can answer that so far in a scientific way, that is, in a falsifiable and not yet disproven manner.
- frongpik 6y ago
  Those quantum models are just more obscure and more accurate abstractions. Otherwise we wouldn't have copenhagen and other interpretations. The fact that abstractions are accurate doesn't make them more real. Example: navier stokes equations are accurate, but they aren't water; moreover, by adding complexity to the diff equations, they won't become more like water. This is what I really don't like about the modern physics: it's become an elaborate fortress of math models shielding us from the reality, and whenever we discover a missing wall in the fortress (dark matter), we just patch it with another clever math abstraction.
  - m_mueller 6y ago
    But that is all science is and has ever been - trying to understand the world, by measuring it and creating models that should match measurements as much as possible. What you consciously experience as reality is also nothing else - a model about the world that your brain has built up, fed with inputs about the current state.
  - doliveira 6y ago
    What do you think that is (or can be) the reality quantum mechanics is shielding you from?

What is it made of?

p1esk 6y ago

I have no idea. Doesn’t make it any less real though.

frongpik 6y ago
This is what I meant by a thought-terminating answer. Magnetic field is not a "vector field" because a "vector field" is a math abstraction, while magnetic field is real. Just like water is not a diff equation with boundary conditions, no matter how accurate that diff equation is.

m_mueller 6y ago

I think that is the wrong question to ask. A vector field is just a mathematical model to describe a natural phenomenon, as does curved spacetime for gravity. Those models have limitations under certain Conditions. For magnetism there are afaik quantum mechanical models available for all energy states while for gravity those seem to only work at lower energies. At the end, your question is about the nature of truth - what is behind all this. I don't think anyone can answer that so far in a scientific way, that is, in a falsifiable and not yet disproven manner.

frongpik 6y ago
Those quantum models are just more obscure and more accurate abstractions. Otherwise we wouldn't have copenhagen and other interpretations. The fact that abstractions are accurate doesn't make them more real. Example: navier stokes equations are accurate, but they aren't water; moreover, by adding complexity to the diff equations, they won't become more like water. This is what I really don't like about the modern physics: it's become an elaborate fortress of math models shielding us from the reality, and whenever we discover a missing wall in the fortress (dark matter), we just patch it with another clever math abstraction.
- m_mueller 6y ago
  But that is all science is and has ever been - trying to understand the world, by measuring it and creating models that should match measurements as much as possible. What you consciously experience as reality is also nothing else - a model about the world that your brain has built up, fed with inputs about the current state.
- doliveira 6y ago
  What do you think that is (or can be) the reality quantum mechanics is shielding you from?