I probably constrain my experiences in lots of ways that I don’t even know about, but I don’t think there’s always a way to know whether a belief will constrain your experiences, even if it is based on empirical (or even scientific) observation. Isaac Newton’s beliefs constrained all of our beliefs for centuries. Scholars were so unwilling to question classical mechanics that they came up with this “ether” stuff that could never be observed directly, and thus didn’t further constrain their experience, but had the nice side effect of resolving inconsistencies in their previously held theories. However, even though Einstein’s theory was more correct than Newton’s, without Newton’s theory mechanical engineering wouldn’t exist, and without Einstein’s, the Bomb wouldn’t exist. I mean this is obviously a gross oversimplification of the development of the Bomb, but I’m just saying there’s not much use for relativity outside of a classroom/particle accelerator.
Good article. Some thoughts:
I probably constrain my experiences in lots of ways that I don’t even know about, but I don’t think there’s always a way to know whether a belief will constrain your experiences, even if it is based on empirical (or even scientific) observation. Isaac Newton’s beliefs constrained all of our beliefs for centuries. Scholars were so unwilling to question classical mechanics that they came up with this “ether” stuff that could never be observed directly, and thus didn’t further constrain their experience, but had the nice side effect of resolving inconsistencies in their previously held theories. However, even though Einstein’s theory was more correct than Newton’s, without Newton’s theory mechanical engineering wouldn’t exist, and without Einstein’s, the Bomb wouldn’t exist. I mean this is obviously a gross oversimplification of the development of the Bomb, but I’m just saying there’s not much use for relativity outside of a classroom/particle accelerator.
Global Positioning System