Whenever I think about magnets I remember this Feynman interview where someone asks him why magnets behave the way they do, and he says that to answer a “why”-question you need a foundation where something is agreed to be true, and it seems like for electromagnetic forces we end up in " because that’s how the universe is apparently".
Sure, but between nothing and the axioms of the standard model we end up with a fairly comprehensive description which can predict how different kinds of magnets behave in a wide variety of situations.
No, the theory of electromagnetism and by extension physics in general is knowing how it works. How to use it is engineering, a different set of knowledge which we also have some of.
I think they mean more the difference between what rules it follows and why it follows those rules. It sounds like we know more about the “what” but not much about the “why” for magnets (or any of the fundamental forces).
That is sort of how the universe operates though. You can have a greater and greater understanding of the underlying principles of physics but eventually you do get to “that just how it is”. Why is there no such thing as a negative photon, apparently we just can’t have a negative excitation in the photon field, no one knows why.
I mean one of the points he’s making there comes up in every good science class: science doesn’t answer ‘why’ it answers ‘how’. The goal of science is to describe what we see in the world; science less about explaining things. Its easy to do without being a pedant. He’s absolutely being pedantic on camera in that clip.
Like if you look at how people treat science now: MAGA completely pissing on it because its funded by snake oil people. Rich guys like Elon Musk cynically using it as a way to bilk the public and government. The press just has different goals than the scientific community and I would say that clip showed some of that friction manifest.
Whenever I think about magnets I remember this Feynman interview where someone asks him why magnets behave the way they do, and he says that to answer a “why”-question you need a foundation where something is agreed to be true, and it seems like for electromagnetic forces we end up in " because that’s how the universe is apparently".
Sure, but between nothing and the axioms of the standard model we end up with a fairly comprehensive description which can predict how different kinds of magnets behave in a wide variety of situations.
That’s knowing how to use it, not how it works.
No, the theory of electromagnetism and by extension physics in general is knowing how it works. How to use it is engineering, a different set of knowledge which we also have some of.
I think they mean more the difference between what rules it follows and why it follows those rules. It sounds like we know more about the “what” but not much about the “why” for magnets (or any of the fundamental forces).
Feynman was a bit pedantic sometimes.
I’d expect nothing less from a scientist. Decrying pedantry from a scientist would be like decrying financial accuracy from an accountant.
When its warranted yes, the pedantry is a plus.
The gift of a talented pop scientist is to know when to turn on and off the pedantry.
This seems to be easily said of anyone trying to popularize science philosophy.
That is sort of how the universe operates though. You can have a greater and greater understanding of the underlying principles of physics but eventually you do get to “that just how it is”. Why is there no such thing as a negative photon, apparently we just can’t have a negative excitation in the photon field, no one knows why.
I mean one of the points he’s making there comes up in every good science class: science doesn’t answer ‘why’ it answers ‘how’. The goal of science is to describe what we see in the world; science less about explaining things. Its easy to do without being a pedant. He’s absolutely being pedantic on camera in that clip.
Like if you look at how people treat science now: MAGA completely pissing on it because its funded by snake oil people. Rich guys like Elon Musk cynically using it as a way to bilk the public and government. The press just has different goals than the scientific community and I would say that clip showed some of that friction manifest.