X-Message-Number: 19150 From: "Brett Bellmore" <> Subject: Re: Why no fundamental advances in physics? Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 10:31:59 -0400 Why no fundamental advances in physics lately? I'd say you could attribute it to two factors: 1. Our current physical theories are a frighteningly close approximation of the behavior of the universe, at least the bits of it we can get at. Physics advances by noting discrepencies between experiment and theory. No discrepencies, no advance. Based on this, physics should pick up again when we can get at those bits of the universe we can't currently observe. It will, unfortunately, take us a while to get the tools to do that. 2. WE'VE GOT MONKEY BRAINS! No, seriously, it's remarkable we've gotten this far with brains evolved for a primative hunter-gatherer lifestyle. And that fact that we HAVE gotten this far has relied on a tiny minority of anomolously intelligent people, way out at the end of the probability distribution. I really think we're reaching the limits of what unaided human brains are capable of. Hopefully, improving those brains will prove to be within those limits. Brett Bellmore Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19150