tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34480619.post2023802837715575136..comments2024-03-11T13:47:03.621-05:00Comments on Physics and Physicists: The Theory of Everything?ZapperZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15861398273820851809noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34480619.post-83933066911863043322009-06-16T16:49:29.657-05:002009-06-16T16:49:29.657-05:00Then you should write a rebuttal to all of Phil An...Then you should write a rebuttal to all of Phil Anderson and Bob Laughlin's papers on the fallacy of a "ToE".<br /><br />And did you even read the references I gave in this blog entry?<br /><br />Zz.ZapperZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15861398273820851809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34480619.post-28363816076186938462009-06-16T16:22:41.685-05:002009-06-16T16:22:41.685-05:00"Reductionism is a philosophy which, to state..."Reductionism is a philosophy which, to state rather crudely, everything in the universe can be reduced to the basic interaction at a single particle case."<br /><br />Wow, huge strawman. That's not what reductionism means at all, not even in a crude sense.<br /><br />Sure, superconductivity is an emergent phenomenon, and it doesn't occur on the scale of a single particle, but that's not at all incompatible with reductionism. Surely you recognize that superconductivity doesn't violate any laws of physics like QM and GR? Superconductivity is explainable by the interactions of all the particles, which interact according to the fundamental laws of physics, which for someone who believes in a ToE, would be the ToE. Consciousness is another emergent phenomenon. But that doesn't mean that the neurons and synapses etc in your brain violate any laws of physics.<br /><br />ToE is the belief that the laws of physics should apply in all situations, with no caveats like we have at the moment where Strong, Gravity and Electroweak forces are incompatible. At the moment, the first Planck second of the Big Bang is inexplicable to us, because of the GR and QM conflict. Doesn't that bother you?<br /><br />Reductionism simply states that because of the fundamental laws of physics (like a ToE), then all emergent phenomena will not be based on any new laws of physics, but the same laws of physics that apply at smaller scales, only in a more complicated and specific case. Superconductivity doesn't violate reductionism, because all those particles interact according to the same fundamental laws of physics, and the effect of superconductivity emerges from their interaction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com