Not real at the fundamental level, correct, but real in the relevant sense for certain levels of abstraction, and (satisfying the criteria Anna Salamon gave and the and the Level 2 standard I gave) capable of plugging in to other models of reality.
Well, the most famous opposition to atomic theory (famous to me at least) came from Ernst Mach of Mach’s Principle. Seems like applying his positivism to quantum physics tells you that only the wave-function and the Born rule “are real”. Atoms just give us a convenient way to approximate these rules for predicting experience.
You know Eliezer argues that atoms are not individually real, right?
Not real at the fundamental level, correct, but real in the relevant sense for certain levels of abstraction, and (satisfying the criteria Anna Salamon gave and the and the Level 2 standard I gave) capable of plugging in to other models of reality.
Well, the most famous opposition to atomic theory (famous to me at least) came from Ernst Mach of Mach’s Principle. Seems like applying his positivism to quantum physics tells you that only the wave-function and the Born rule “are real”. Atoms just give us a convenient way to approximate these rules for predicting experience.
Reductionism sequence). Now.
Edit: Okay, maybe later.
Nice edit. :P