It is high time to exorcise the ghost of Protagoras.
Topics
About: truth
About: physics
The table of contents of this article
- Starting Context
- Target Context
- Orientation
- Main Body
- 1: The Ghost of Protagoras
- 2: Certainly, any Measurement Appears Only When Someone Does a Measuring
- 3: It Is a Matter of Interpretation, Which of Course Appears Only When a "Man" Does the Interpretation
- 4: Our Interpretations Are Trapped in Our Intuition
- 5: It Is the Interpretation of the Status of the Reality Determined By Humans, Not the Status of the Reality
- 6: It Would Be Meaningless to Do Physics if Humans Were Determining the Reality
- 7: The Status of the Reality Is the Reality As It Is
Starting Context
- The reader knows the background of this site.
Target Context
- The reader will be released from the epistemological nonsense: humans determine the reality.
Orientation
There is an article on that what we are supposed to do is to maintain the unboundedly consistent hypotheses system.
There is an article on that to establish the unbounded consistency is the only way to near truths.
There is an article on the distinctions between the reality, observations, and interpretations of observations, and where relativity, ambiguity, or unpredictability could exist.
There is an article on the real trick of Zeno's paradox and how to resist any trick
There is an article on becoming a benefactor of humanity by being a conduit of truths
Main Body
Stage DirectionHere is Special-Student-7 in a room in an old rather isolated house surrounded by some mountains in Japan.
1: The Ghost of Protagoras
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
There was a man named Protagoras.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
"was"? So, he is not now.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
He has been dead for about 2500 years.
But his ghost seems to be still haunting the planet.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
We should not be any persons who believe the existence of any ghost.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Of course, I am not talking about any literal ghost, but a mentality promoted by him.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
What did he promote?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
He is known to have said "Man is the measure of all things.".
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Well, aside from that it should have been "Man, woman, Klingon, and any other sentient being are the measures of all things.", it does not seem any problem.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I deem not it any problem, but he is said to have claimed that there is no truth except subjective judgments.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
We should know that that claim is not any deduction from "Man is the measure of all things.".
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Of course. As the reality is not automatically measured, a sentient being has to measure the reality in order for a measurement to happen, but the reality does not need to be measured in order to be as it is.
The reality is nothing but the truth, which does not require being measured by any "Man".
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Has Big Bang begun to exist only after "Man" began to measure it? Does the inside of a black hole not exist because "Man" cannot measure it? Will the universe vanish just because humans perished, because the universe will not be measured any more?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Oddly enough, the ghost is die-hard on the Bias Planet, ruling many Biasians, even many intellectuals like physicists, even now.
2: Certainly, any Measurement Appears Only When Someone Does a Measuring
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
A rock exists underground somewhere.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Well ...
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
It is ridiculous to believe that the rock begins to exist only at the instant a "Man" finds the rock.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Well, we need to be clear about what "the rock" means.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
What do you mean?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Is a sand grain attached to "the rock" a part of "the rock"?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I think not.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But there are some sand grains that are adhering fast to "the rock" to be took off "the rock".
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Well, it is just a matter of definition.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
In fact, it will be quite subtle to determine which grains belong to "the rock", because it is a matter of how strongly we try to take off the grain, while if we try strongly enough, any grain will come off.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Anyway, it is just a matter of definition.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I am saying that "the rock" appears only after a "Man" makes the definition.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
That is only about what the "Man" calls what; the reality underground is not changed any bit if the "Man" changes what part he call "the rock".
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I know.
Any measurement of the diameter of "the rock" (after "the rock" has been defined) appears only after a "Man" chooses a unit.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Of course: "31.2 cm" appears only after a "Man" measures "the rock", but the diameter is not changed any bit just because the "Man" has chosen 'inch' instead.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But strictly speaking, the atoms in "the rock" are incessantly wobbling, and what is the diameter indeed?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
And of course the boundary of each atom is not clear: the electrons are moving around.
But that is only about what a "Man" call what; the reality underground is not changed any bit just because the "Man" has changed the definition of the diameter.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I know.
3: It Is a Matter of Interpretation, Which of Course Appears Only When a "Man" Does the Interpretation
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
In fact, "31.2 cm" is an interpretation of the reality and does not appear until a "Man" does the interpretation.
It is like a book translated into a language from an original book in another language. The translated book has existed only after someone did the translation.
And importantly, the translated book cannot be completely accurate.
In fact, any coordinate appears only after a "Man" spreads a net as a coordinates system.
Obviously, any interpretation exists only because a "Man" did the interpretation.
Some discourses like ""the rock" begins to exist only after a "Man" finds it and defines what it is." and ""the diameter" begins to exist only after a "Man" measures it by determining the unit and the boundary." is about interpretations, not about the reality.
4: Our Interpretations Are Trapped in Our Intuition
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
When we make an interpretation, the interpretation is (at least mostly) trapped in our intuition.
When we think of the spacetime, we interpret it based on the pathetic human intuition built on pathetic human daily experiences.
The coordinates of an electron is an interpretation of "the location" of the electron, where "the location" is a part of the reality, which does not require being interpreted by any "Man".
"The coordinates appear only after a "Man" measured them." is indeed correct, because the interpretation appears only after the "Man" made the interpretation, but "the location" exists independent from any human interpretation.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
The issue is that "the location" in the reality tends to be confused with the location by an interpretation.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Probably, "the location" in the reality is something that is quite hard (or impossible) to be imagined accurately by pathetic human intuition.
Something called "spin" by physicists is a somewhat inaccurate interpretation of something in the reality.
5: It Is the Interpretation of the Status of the Reality Determined By Humans, Not the Status of the Reality
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
While I often hear the opinion that the status of the reality is determined by humans by some physicists, I find it quite absurd.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Probably, the wordings are bad.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Maybe. As the reality exists without requiring any "Man", the way the reality is in without any intervention by any "Man" is the status of the reality.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
As the reality as it is cannot be grasped by "Man", "Man" tries to build a somewhat inaccurate model of the reality, and the status of the model seems what they are calling "the status of the reality".
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
In fact, there is no such thing as "spin with respect to a direction" in the reality, but they are saying that the status of the reality is determined by humans because "spins with respect to a direction" are determined by human measurements. Certainly, "spin with respect to a direction" is not determined until a "Man" measures it, because it is an interpretation, which does not exist until someone makes the interpretation.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
As the interpretation is somewhat inaccurate, although the interpretation is somewhat determined by the original, it is somewhat determined by the interpreter, which seems to be what is happening in Quantum Mechanics.
6: It Would Be Meaningless to Do Physics if Humans Were Determining the Reality
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
If humans were determining the reality, why would we not just arbitrarily determine the reality?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
As we suppose that there is the reality that objectively exists, we humbly try to grasp the reality, do we not? Otherwise, we could determine the reality however we liked.
For example, why would we not make a measuring apparatus that read any "spin" 42, and establish the law, "Every spin is 42."?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
If humans were determining the reality, there does not seem any reason why we should not do so.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Or we would determine any length to be 42, because why not? as we determine the reality, why should we not determine so?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Physics would be meaningless.
7: The Status of the Reality Is the Reality As It Is
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The status of the reality is the reality as it is.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Humans measure "the spin" of a particle and some people seem to be calling "the spin" "the status of the reality".
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The reality does not need to be measured by any human, but humans are trying to push the reality into a human model, and some people are calling the distorted reality, which is not really the reality, "the reality".
That distorted pseudo-reality is certainly determined by humans.
