----- Original Message ---- > From: Mark Iverson > Virtual... Schmirtual! The only reason physics uses the term 'virtual' is > due to the inadequacies of the theories (mathematical equations) to properly > model physical reality!
Yes, of course this is true. The term "virtual" and "dark energy" are admitted by everyone to be little more than "placeholders" - ladies in waiting, as it were. Not a problem. Almost everything outside of our immediate 3-space can be categorized as virtual. The "neutrino" was once such a placeholder, an imaginary construct that served a phenomenological purpose -- until it was discovered through experiment to have most of the characteristics which were once pure speculation. ... not to mention, the one very important characteristic which was never imagined until later. In fact the so-called "flavor oscillation" of the neutrino is still a placeholder, or just emerging from that cloud. And that peculiar feature may be applicable to more of reality than just the neutrino. But let's not open the Pandora's box of "what is real" so soon in the new year... Jones
