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In retrospect, calling epicycles "successful and predictive" is a category error. You could use epicycles to make orbits shaped like a drawn outline of Einstei
by dnautics 6y ago
In retrospect, calling epicycles "successful and predictive" is a category error. You could use epicycles to make orbits shaped like a drawn outline of Einsteins face, because epicycles are equivalent to Fourier series and can can be used to represent anything. So if you can say epicycles are successful and predictive, you could say "enumerating coordinates is successful and predictive".
To be fair, Fourier theory was not known at the time.
- posix_me_less 6y agoI don't see the point. Fourier methods, whether their modern form or their ancient form in the Ptolemy's model are useful, predictive and successful. They were used to predict planet positions, and (for example) sea levels near shores. However Copernicus and others realized that there is a better point of view and more deeper understanding of what is going on. My point is, dark matter hypothesis is similar situation, we can bend it to explain very much, but there is no great revolutionary insight coming from it, we are adding tweaks, adding more independent quantities, like we did with epicycles. Perhaps there will be new Copernicus who will show a better point of view, a deeper understanding of the observations that lead people to introduce DM.