Peter Jones writes: > Bruno Marchal wrote: > > > I can agree. No physicist posit matter in a fundamental theory. > > All physical theories are theories of matter (mass/energy).
True, but they are not theories of what matter *actually is*. At the turn of last century Rutherford showed that atoms were mostly empty space. Tables and chairs did not suddenly become less solid as a result, but it became clear that their apparent solidity was not actually evidence that atoms are solid all the way through. In a similar fashion, the apparent solidity of matter is not actually evidence that it isn't just fluff all the way down, or part of a computer simulation. Our physical theories describe the behaviour of matter without formally addressing this question at all, despite what prejudices and working assumptions physicists may have about the true basis of physical reality. Stathis Papaioannou _________________________________________________________________ Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail. http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
