“Fixed by evidence” != “simple”. There are few alternatives to Newton’s Laws, perhaps, once you (a) invent calculus as the language of description, the interpreter to run the code; (b) observe Kepler’s laws; (c) realize that objects in motion remain in motion unless a force acts upon them, as opposed to Aristotle’s view, and therefore the law should be written in second derivatives as opposed to third or first derivatives; etc. etc.
Please recall that my original contention was that Einstein must have had enough observational evidence to fix the information inherent in General Relativity as a solution. If you describe ways that the information in General Relativity can be fixed by evidence, you are not contradicting this.
You are also falling prey to hindsight by not making an equal effort to consider how you could have justified alternatives as unique obvious solutions using subsets of other knowledge known at the time, rather than the particular aspects that now obviously seem so prominent.
“Fixed by evidence” != “simple”. There are few alternatives to Newton’s Laws, perhaps, once you (a) invent calculus as the language of description, the interpreter to run the code; (b) observe Kepler’s laws; (c) realize that objects in motion remain in motion unless a force acts upon them, as opposed to Aristotle’s view, and therefore the law should be written in second derivatives as opposed to third or first derivatives; etc. etc.
Please recall that my original contention was that Einstein must have had enough observational evidence to fix the information inherent in General Relativity as a solution. If you describe ways that the information in General Relativity can be fixed by evidence, you are not contradicting this.
You are also falling prey to hindsight by not making an equal effort to consider how you could have justified alternatives as unique obvious solutions using subsets of other knowledge known at the time, rather than the particular aspects that now obviously seem so prominent.