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Some of the most beautiful moments in science - for me, anyway - come about when there's a refresh on perspective. You'll have something like the ptolemaic syst
by MilStdJunkie 2y ago
Some of the most beautiful moments in science - for me, anyway - come about when there's a refresh on perspective. You'll have something like the ptolemaic system, or phlogiston, or the luminiferous ether, and a tiny push in perception reveals a bigger picture, a deeper understanding.
That push is often subtle, but incontrovertible.
Modern cosmology really feels like it's on the cusp of something like that today - perhaps in how spatial dimensions emerge, or some other thing - underlying our more stolid mental models.
- MilStdJunkie 2y agoTo explain how that relates to your point re: stages. The stage of our perception isn't stable. When we started voyaging on ships, that changed it. We went to orbit, whew boy. Today, maybe our terminally-online presence is changing our notions of distance and "here-ness". These sorts of changes can often be a trigger when it comes to these perceptual shifts, as people grow up with a somewhat larger universe than their great grandsires.