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> Hand waving details is fine when discussing with friends, it’s not a sound foundation for serious academic research. It's how physics worked for hundreds of
by wasabi991011 1y ago
> Hand waving details is fine when discussing with friends, it’s not a sound foundation for serious academic research.
It's how physics worked for hundreds of years. Make a handwavy model, find out it works on some cases but breaks down on others, then make a slightly less handwavy model the next time.
Metallurgy considering atomic structure is a very new concept, and was not needed for the first millenias of metalworking.
The issue with economics is not handwaving, is that models are hard to test due to systems not being well isolated.
- oscaracso 1y agoThe history of physics is the exact opposite of what you say. Models were subject to considerable criticism and refinement on theoretical, philosophical, and aesthetic grounds. Newton did not discover universal gravitation because Kepler's laws broke down. Maxwell did not discover his correction because Ampère's laws broke down. Einstein did not discover relativity because Newtonian mechanics broke down. Investigation proceeded along different lines altogether and was accompanied by a degree of scrutiny not to be characterized as 'handwavy'.