Most of that is true, of course. But you merely assert that equations are divorced from physical reality, something that is certainly debatable and therefore not as simple and obviously true as the rest.
On Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 4:00 PM, Eubulides <autoplectic at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 2:02 PM, Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com> wrote:
>
> > No amount of nicotine will ever let you understand an incomprehensible
> > verbal construction. To demonstrate this I will take up my own challenge
> and
> > reconstruct your sentence ("I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of
> the
> > bending (compression?) of space/time by objects of large mass.") using
> the
> > definitions of spacetime (or space/time) from my computer's dictionary
> ("the
> > concepts of time and three-dimensional space regarded as fused in a
> > four-dimensional continuum"), from Wikipedia ("any mathematical model
> that
> > combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum"), and from
> The
> > Random House Dictionary of the English Language ("1. the four-dimensional
> > continuum , having three spatial coordinates. and one temporal
> coordinate,
> > in which all physical quantities may be located. 2. the physical reality
> > that exists within this four-dimensional continuum," plus the RH
> definitions
> > of bend(v.) ("to force an object from a straight form into a curved or
> > angular form or from a curved or angular form into some different form"),
> > and compress(v.) ("to press together; to force into less space"). Thus
> we
> > get six possible sentences:
> >
> > 1. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of forcing [the concepts of
> > time and three-dimensional space regarded as fused in a four-dimensional
> > continuum] from a strait, curved, or angular form into some different
> form
> > by objects of large mass.
> >
> > 2. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of forcing [any
> mathematical
> > model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum]
> from
> > a strait, curved, or angular form into some different form by objects of
> > large mass.
> >
> > 3. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of forcing [the physical
> > reality that exists within the four-dimensional continuum , having three
> > spatial coordinates. and one temporal coordinate, in which all physical
> > quantities may be located] from a strait, curved, or angular form into
> some
> > different form by objects of large mass.
> >
> > 4. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of pressing [the concepts of
> > time and three-dimensional space regarded as fused in a four-dimensional
> > continuum] together to force them into less space.
> >
> > 5. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of pressing [any
> mathematical
> > model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum]
> > together to force it into less space.
> >
> > 6. I conceive gravity as being a side-effect of pressing [the physical
> > reality that exists within the four-dimensional continuum , having three
> > spatial coordinates. and one temporal coordinate, in which all physical
> > quantities may be located] together to force it into less space.
> >
> > As you see, none of these sentence-forms conveys any physical (or other)
> > meaning at all. Can some physicist reading this do any better,
> verbally? I
> > doubt it.
> >
> >
> > Shane Mage
> >
>
> ==============
>
> That's right, children; don't smoke pcp while reading Bas van Fraassen
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>