3 ms·

> We've certainly characterized light's behavior (to some degree), though we still have basically no understanding of what it actually is. As a physicist I rea

by leni536 11y ago

> We've certainly characterized light's behavior (to some degree), though we still have basically no understanding of what it actually is. As a physicist I really can't imagine what answer would satisfy you and could be falsifiable the same time. It is what it is, all we can do is to characterize its behavior.

nickff 11y ago
One could say the same of a stone, a plant, a planet, or a star, yet we do not simply characterize any of these, we endeavor to understand its origins and constituent parts. In the case of the star, we could have analysed its spectrum, size, trajectory (through space), and surface characteristics, then called it a day; yet we continually try to understand the elements which make up the star, what their state of matter is, how they are reacting, and many other aspects of the star. I disagree with you when you say (of light) that "all we can do is to characterize its behavior".
- leni536 11y ago
  Well maybe that's not all we can do. Maybe the abstraction of treating light and the rest of the Universe somewhat separately will break (of course we describe the coupling too). Maybe the abstraction of treating light as a non-dividable entity in the Universe will break. It would only create other axioms and/or other non-dividable entities, at what point would you be satisfied? It could very well be that you can't divide light any further and I would be satisfied with it if we can describe its behavior fully. If one says that light is a broken abstraction and you can describe the Universe using only "string" then you would ask "Yeah, but what strings are?". I'm not saying that asking what light is is not an important question. But there is a possibility that there is simply no answer and yet we can have fully working physics. At least nobody will question your theories just because you don't tell what exactly your elementary particles are. They are elementary, we just have them, maybe light is not one of them.
  - nickff 11y ago
    I think that your last point gets to the heart of the question, and you are right that we may never achieve a deeper understanding of light, matter, or gravity; but that does not mean that a deeper understanding is not desirable, or that we should stop asking the questions. Further, we will never know for certain when we have reached the bounds of our capacity to understand, so I will continue to ask "Yeah, but what strings are?". I always like to keep in mind that 'atom' means 'indivisible' in Greek, and yet we found that bound of knowledge to be surmountable (with debatable consequences). I would also like to be clear that I am not criticizing anyone for making insufficient progress; it is just that there is a lot out there left for us to understand, and not all of it is marginal stuff that's "very big or very small".

by leni536 11y ago

nickff 11y ago

One could say the same of a stone, a plant, a planet, or a star, yet we do not simply characterize any of these, we endeavor to understand its origins and constituent parts. In the case of the star, we could have analysed its spectrum, size, trajectory (through space), and surface characteristics, then called it a day; yet we continually try to understand the elements which make up the star, what their state of matter is, how they are reacting, and many other aspects of the star. I disagree with you when you say (of light) that "all we can do is to characterize its behavior".

leni536 11y ago
Well maybe that's not all we can do. Maybe the abstraction of treating light and the rest of the Universe somewhat separately will break (of course we describe the coupling too). Maybe the abstraction of treating light as a non-dividable entity in the Universe will break. It would only create other axioms and/or other non-dividable entities, at what point would you be satisfied? It could very well be that you can't divide light any further and I would be satisfied with it if we can describe its behavior fully. If one says that light is a broken abstraction and you can describe the Universe using only "string" then you would ask "Yeah, but what strings are?". I'm not saying that asking what light is is not an important question. But there is a possibility that there is simply no answer and yet we can have fully working physics. At least nobody will question your theories just because you don't tell what exactly your elementary particles are. They are elementary, we just have them, maybe light is not one of them.
- nickff 11y ago
  I think that your last point gets to the heart of the question, and you are right that we may never achieve a deeper understanding of light, matter, or gravity; but that does not mean that a deeper understanding is not desirable, or that we should stop asking the questions. Further, we will never know for certain when we have reached the bounds of our capacity to understand, so I will continue to ask "Yeah, but what strings are?". I always like to keep in mind that 'atom' means 'indivisible' in Greek, and yet we found that bound of knowledge to be surmountable (with debatable consequences). I would also like to be clear that I am not criticizing anyone for making insufficient progress; it is just that there is a lot out there left for us to understand, and not all of it is marginal stuff that's "very big or very small".