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Have you ever seen an atom? Have you ever had access to a Scanning Electron Microscope or equivalently advanced machinery to observe one? If not, you have had t
by dexwiz 5y ago
Have you ever seen an atom? Have you ever had access to a Scanning Electron Microscope or equivalently advanced machinery to observe one? If not, you have had to put at least some level of faith in that they do exist.
- sorry_outta_gas 5y agothat sounds more like religion to me, also people should have access to hacker spaces with electron microscopes the fact most don't is a failure
- bally0241 5y agoNo, I have not "seen" an atom. However, I have done experiments in a lab which have produced results which are consistent with atomic theory. There is no need to have faith in the cartoon model of an atom. All that matters is that the theory can be used to make predictions which can then be verified by experiment. The underlying "objective" nature of reality is immaterial.
- Jensson 5y agoI trust people who claim X, then let me come and test every bit of X myself to see that it is correct, and then I go and test a few bits of X and see that the tests work, and everyone I know who did the same on different parts also got results agreeing with X. It is perfectly rational to believe X in this scenario even if I didn't test all of it myself. I don't trust people who claim Y, get angry whenever I try to test any part of Y, the few things I test about Y aren't true, the people I know who tested other things about Y also saw that they weren't true. It is perfectly rational to assume that Y is just nonsense in this scenario even if I didn't test all of it myself.