#model-dependent realism

I think that casting judgment is a great limiter in not only how one perceives others, but also sees themselves.

One time, while eavesdropping on the people directly behind, I overheard them gawking at my bed head hair. Initially, this perturbed me and the thought of turning around to say something crossed my mind. But instead, I had an epiphany about the role of perception in social relationships: these people were not talking about me in an earnest sense. To them, I was an abstraction to compare themselves to and engage with one another. Turning around to give them a piece of my mind would only foster that connection!

StoryAlity#167 – Model-Dependent Realism

On: Model-Dependent Realism

I don’t use the term “Scientific Theory”, I use the term “Scientific Model”.

…And why?

At least 3 reasons:

1) So a layperson can never (mistakenly!) say: “It’s just a theory-?” when we’re talking about: Science!

2) It means you need: a Model. A diagram. A flowchart. (Words are a very low-bandwidth communication channel. A picture’s worth 1k words & a symbol’s worth 1k…

While one might be tempted by this approach to quote Ms. Storm in Tim Minchin’s song with the same name; “You can’t know anything, knowledge is merely opinion,” there is a catch however which differs model-dependent realism from, say, relativism (not to be confused with relativity). While the former allows for the length of an object to be dependent on the relative speed of the observer, without ever commenting on the actuality of such a concept, the latter claims that nothing can be said about the length at all. Thus, though both views argue that the true nature of reality is irrelevant (actually relativism argues rather that “true nature” is nonexistent altogether), model-based realism provides (or requires) a framework of laws to dictate why and when observations differ, while relativism invites to complete anarchy. Anyways, it is model-based realism that let us accept for instance the dual properties of photons.