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It is really amazing, that the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics were pretty much accepted science in the 1920's, but it took to the end of 1950's befo

by sampo 12y ago

It is really amazing, that the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics were pretty much accepted science in the 1920's, but it took to the end of 1950's before Continental Drift was accepted.

frozenport 12y ago
On the flip side, the fact of Continental Drift will remain when a new theory supersedes Quantum Mechanics.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Nothing will happen to either QM or continental drift. New scientific theories don't suddenly invalidate the otherwise working old ones, they only add more details and refine the modelling of reality.
  - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
    > New scientific theories don't suddenly invalidate the otherwise working old ones [...] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory
    - Jweb_Guru 12y ago
      Phlogiston theory never "worked," as demonstrated by the Wikipedia article you linked. > Eventually, quantitative experiments revealed problems, including the fact that some metals, such as magnesium, gained mass when they burned, even though they were supposed to have lost phlogiston.
      - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
        It worked well enough. Metals that gained weight through oxidation were simply losing "negative phlogiston".
    - TeMPOraL 12y ago
      That's why I wrote that a new theory can "refine the modelling of reality". Whatever good predictions the phlogiston theory and whatever phenomena they explained didn't stop working the moment we switched to a next theory. We only found a (much) better model for the observable reality. My point is that if we replace QM with something else, transistors won't suddenly stop working. The old models and computations will forever remain as good as they're now.
  - frozenport 12y ago
    I'm starting to do some work in QM for my PhD and I can tell you that there is some stuff that will really mess-up QM. Look up "Relevant and irrelevant nonlinear Shrodinger Equations".
rjsw 12y ago
Are you sure that Relativity was accepted ? My reading of things is that it was the Climate Change of its day.

by sampo 12y ago

It is really amazing, that the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics were pretty much accepted science in the 1920's, but it took to the end of 1950's before Continental Drift was accepted.

frozenport 12y ago

On the flip side, the fact of Continental Drift will remain when a new theory supersedes Quantum Mechanics.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
Nothing will happen to either QM or continental drift. New scientific theories don't suddenly invalidate the otherwise working old ones, they only add more details and refine the modelling of reality.
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  > New scientific theories don't suddenly invalidate the otherwise working old ones [...] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory
  - Jweb_Guru 12y ago
    Phlogiston theory never "worked," as demonstrated by the Wikipedia article you linked. > Eventually, quantitative experiments revealed problems, including the fact that some metals, such as magnesium, gained mass when they burned, even though they were supposed to have lost phlogiston.
    - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
      It worked well enough. Metals that gained weight through oxidation were simply losing "negative phlogiston".
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    That's why I wrote that a new theory can "refine the modelling of reality". Whatever good predictions the phlogiston theory and whatever phenomena they explained didn't stop working the moment we switched to a next theory. We only found a (much) better model for the observable reality. My point is that if we replace QM with something else, transistors won't suddenly stop working. The old models and computations will forever remain as good as they're now.
- frozenport 12y ago
  I'm starting to do some work in QM for my PhD and I can tell you that there is some stuff that will really mess-up QM. Look up "Relevant and irrelevant nonlinear Shrodinger Equations".

rjsw 12y ago

Are you sure that Relativity was accepted ? My reading of things is that it was the Climate Change of its day.