On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 9:06 AM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 27, 2021, 6:01 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 8:50 AM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> What is your assumption that the conservation of angular momentum will >>> continue to hold throughout the night based on? >>> >> >> >> Largely on symmetry. The conservation of angular momentum is related, by >> Noether's theorem, to the isotropy of space -- largely its rotational >> symmetry. One can have confidence in the continuation of angular momentum >> conservation because there is nothing in prospect that will spoil this >> symmetry -- the rotational invariance of space. >> >> You cannot, of course, rule out the idea that the universe will suddenly >> become random, and symmetries will no longer obtain. If you want to worry >> about that possibility, feel free, but don't bother me with your paranoia. >> > > I don't fear it suddenly changing, but it's valid to ask why we should not > fear it, or: why is the probability deemed low that the laws will stop > working? > It is not really possible to give a probability estimate for things like this because we have no data on which we could base such an estimate. The general working assumption is that things will continue as they are unless there is some underlying instability or some external cause of change. We have no evidence for any such instability in the nature of space, or of the conservation laws. This is essentially Newton's first law writ large. Since empiricism is not logically required in the set of logically possible > worlds, it is then a phenomenon we should try to explain. > Why should we ever be led to consider the set of all logically possible worlds? I doubt that such a set can ever be well-defined. Current evidence is against the existence of these other worlds -- we have evidence only for our world. Bruce > I admire Tomas for questioning something many scientists might take as a > given. > > Jason > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAFxXSLT0YRe9VQo_fdFJJvV3c-Ndoa81MOA1gUe4Emr4QV94pQ%40mail.gmail.com.
