I agree that some of Vladimir’s comments can apply to both meanings of “explanation,” I was just trying to avoid conflating the two. I also think that most readers of pop-sci books generally wouldn’t be able to tell if something’s wrong, because most readers don’t check multiple sources and use Google Scholar to find the papers being cited.
What I’m disagreeing with is Vladimir’s original claim that “it’s impossible to gain any real understanding of physics from such materials.”
Almost all of the Sequences consist mostly of helpful explanations of concepts without going into full mathematical detail. I gave additional examples of non-mathematical explanations that improved my understanding in ways that informed my actions here, and wedrifid gave his own examples here. I gave one more here.
Because these all seem to be instances of improving someone’s understanding of some idea in a useful way without them acquiring full mathematical understanding of that idea, I wondered if perhaps Vladimir was using an unusual definition of “understanding” such that for him “understanding” or “real understanding” only referred to detailed mathematical understanding. But in that case his original claim that “it’s impossible to gain any real understanding of physics from [materials that don’t impart a detailed mathematical understanding]” is basically tautological, and doesn’t undermine the rationale for the original post (‘Great Explanations’).
Vladimir also seemed to claim that I can’t have evidence about whether Copenhagen is correct or incorrect without understanding all the equations involved. But that seems obviously false, so I asked if I had misunderstood him.
I agree that some of Vladimir’s comments can apply to both meanings of “explanation,” I was just trying to avoid conflating the two. I also think that most readers of pop-sci books generally wouldn’t be able to tell if something’s wrong, because most readers don’t check multiple sources and use Google Scholar to find the papers being cited.
What I’m disagreeing with is Vladimir’s original claim that “it’s impossible to gain any real understanding of physics from such materials.”
Almost all of the Sequences consist mostly of helpful explanations of concepts without going into full mathematical detail. I gave additional examples of non-mathematical explanations that improved my understanding in ways that informed my actions here, and wedrifid gave his own examples here. I gave one more here.
Because these all seem to be instances of improving someone’s understanding of some idea in a useful way without them acquiring full mathematical understanding of that idea, I wondered if perhaps Vladimir was using an unusual definition of “understanding” such that for him “understanding” or “real understanding” only referred to detailed mathematical understanding. But in that case his original claim that “it’s impossible to gain any real understanding of physics from [materials that don’t impart a detailed mathematical understanding]” is basically tautological, and doesn’t undermine the rationale for the original post (‘Great Explanations’).
Vladimir also seemed to claim that I can’t have evidence about whether Copenhagen is correct or incorrect without understanding all the equations involved. But that seems obviously false, so I asked if I had misunderstood him.