Katie MackMar 3, 2023

‘The most common response I get when I talk about dark matter is: “isn’t this just something physicists made up to make the math work out?”
The answer to that might surprise you: yes! In fact, everything in physics is made up to make the math work out.’

My latest for BBC Science Focus:

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/everything-physics-made-up/

Yes, everything in physics is completely made up – that’s the whole point

A physicist's task is to constantly create equations that keep up with our observations of physical phenomena.

BBC Science Focus Magazine
Show threadStephaneWithAnEMar 3, 2023
@AstroKatie What do you mean that these things I see, hear and smell are numbers on a few scales that parts of our bodies register? :D
Show threadGeoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Mar 3, 2023
@StephaneWithAnE Whether they actually *are* numbers, rather than things that look suspiciously like numbers, is a bit philosophical. But it's *really* suspicious.
Show threadStephaneWithAnEMar 4, 2023
@_thegeoff Philosophically speaking, letters may not be able to accurately represent numbers! ;)
Show threadThree plus or minus five

@_thegeoff @StephaneWithAnE
They don't represent numbers. They represent continuua that relate to other continuua. x^2 + y^2 = 1 is not clue as to x and y; it's a description of a circle.

I know I’m being pedantic about a joke, but I think it’s useful insight

Mar 4, 2023 at 12:46amWeb
Show threadStephaneWithAnEMar 4, 2023
@ThreeSigma @_thegeoff Maybe "circle" is all there is and the maths is just an approximation or a way to talk about it? (I know, I know, I'm just continuing in the same line of thought)
Show threadThree plus or minus fiveMar 4, 2023

@_thegeoff @StephaneWithAnE
Yes. Or even that circles and other platonic objects don’t exist but are just useful fictions.

But the maths and other fictions have predictive power. So even if they are not real, they map to the real thing. So, it is in some way a valid representation of the underlying reality.

Science isn’t about discovering Truth. It’s about finding what works.