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Bill Hobba

['Member']Joined: March 01, 2019 at 09:03Last active: August 30, 2019 at 07:23None discussions28 comments

Comments

In: What's it all made of?  — view comment
Energy and mass are. not equal. The equation says mass is a form of energy. The question is what is energy. For that see Noether's theorem. Bit busy r...
August 18, 2019 at 07:21
In: What's it all made of?  — view comment
Good point. Me, despite years of study of physics I still have no idea. I think like Wienberg we are closing in, but as of now beats me Thanks Bill
August 18, 2019 at 06:52
In: Metaphysics - what is it?  — view comment
I like the answer that says its just an attempt to clarify what is. 30 years of reading books on physics, especially QM, but GR etc as well, and philo...
August 18, 2019 at 05:15
In: Bias against philosophy in scientific circles/forums  — view comment
What I was pointing out is virtually anyone can learn QM so there is nothing conceptually hard about it, although misconceptions abound. Now, as you c...
August 18, 2019 at 04:44
In: Can something exist by itself?  — view comment
In Quantum Mechanics physicists generally think so, as do I, but when looked at carefully it has issues eg decoherence is likely what gives quantum th...
August 18, 2019 at 04:27
In: Bias against philosophy in scientific circles/forums  — view comment
Actually there are no conceptual difficulties in QM - really its just what in math is called a generalized probability model: https://www.scottaaronso...
August 17, 2019 at 18:37
In: How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.  — view comment
He certainly did have a heart and that impresses me as well. Maybe that's it.
August 17, 2019 at 06:58
In: How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.  — view comment
I thought Hugo was a Republican. I am centre maybe a bit centre right politically. Did Hugo go through phase's. Many certainty start left and become m...
August 17, 2019 at 06:51
In: How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.  — view comment
There was one author that I did like not of the science fiction etc variety. I do not remember who but someone who knew me, was an avid reader of nove...
August 17, 2019 at 04:00
In: How Important is Reading to the Philosophical Mind? Literacy and education discussion.  — view comment
I think the style of teaching literacy etc is the important thing. I read a huge amount but mostly technical stuff in math/physics and some politics a...
August 16, 2019 at 03:28
In: Bias against philosophy in scientific circles/forums  — view comment
There is quite a bit wrong with your post eg acceleration does depend on time as does velocity by their very definition. But let's start with the prin...
August 15, 2019 at 06:28
In: Bias against philosophy in scientific circles/forums  — view comment
'So for instance, Newton's laws assume that mass doesn't depend on velocity, that's a weakness.' Newtons laws have many weaknesses I will not go into,...
August 13, 2019 at 17:26
In: Bias against philosophy in scientific circles/forums  — view comment
I am a mentor on Physics Forums and the reason philosophy is off topic there is it once was its own sub-forum. It was moderated by someone who was bas...
August 13, 2019 at 17:09
In: Almost 80 Percent of Philosophy Majors Favor Socialism  — view comment
Maybe its because they are one of the majors least likely to earn the big bucks. Nobody particularly likes constant self sacrifice, but as a philosoph...
July 23, 2019 at 11:58
In: What is a scientific attitude?  — view comment
Read Feynman's the Character of Physical Law. There are videos on it as well I will post later along with a few other observations
July 15, 2019 at 06:43
In: Are causeless effects possible?  — view comment
There are a lot of misconceptions about QM and virtual particles is one of the more insidious https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0609163.pdf Basically its...
July 14, 2019 at 11:28
In: Do greedy capitalists do God's work?  — view comment
Whats a greedy capitalist? - someone who by legal/moral means maximizes profit? Or is it someone that does it by any means possible? If a God like the...
July 14, 2019 at 10:34
In: Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap  — view comment
He has really goofed it up - look at equation 2.26 instead. If it was to the power 0 then you would have 1+1+1+1..... which in fact is -1/2 and his an...
July 12, 2019 at 14:22
In: Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap  — view comment
Ok - first an example of its use in calculating the Casimir Force: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/90a0/5e9d920f271f20704406828d94d0890c6608.pdf See ...
July 10, 2019 at 22:30
In: Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap  — view comment
Some interesting points here. What I would like to do is have a look at a concrete example. Consider 1+2+3+4......... It's obvious to most its infinit...
July 08, 2019 at 12:17
In: Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap  — view comment
Mathematics is the natural language physics is written in. The validity of a physical theory is an experimental matter - nothing to do with the math. ...
July 07, 2019 at 12:41
In: Discussion Closures  — view comment
I'll shrug my shoulders and move on after I've given my feedback and made my case Don't worry If I do not agree my 'feedback' is given in spades. The ...
March 03, 2019 at 12:32
In: Infinite Regression  — view comment
'i disagree, at its base all math is, is a numerical model of reality.' I think you should read the Turing-Wittgenstein debates on the issue. Turing h...
March 03, 2019 at 00:17
In: Discussion Closures  — view comment
I don't know why that discussion was closed but I am a Mentor over on Physics Forums and can assure anyone deciding such things is both consensus base...
March 02, 2019 at 23:50
In: Science is inherently atheistic  — view comment
The same way I square it with tables, that consist of fundamental particles, not doing any thinking. Why anyone would think Spinoza's views imply fund...
March 01, 2019 at 11:07
In: Proof that something can never come from nothing  — view comment
Photons are not conserved. So your proof is experimentally disproved. Thanks Bill
March 01, 2019 at 10:27
In: Science is inherently atheistic  — view comment
I like to think of myself as a scientist, I am into Quantum Mechanics and am a Mentor on Physics Forums. I believe in the God Of Spinoza and many scie...
March 01, 2019 at 09:50
In: The Climate Change Paper So Depressing It's Sending People to Therapy  — view comment
Please don't make me laugh. I haven't read it but can say a few things up front. First when the IPCC released their report they said it plainly - some...
March 01, 2019 at 09:29
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