[Info-vax] VMS on Raspberry Pi 5

[The Natural Philosopher]

On 17/11/2023 15:58, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 14:26:53 +0000
> The Natural Philosopher <tnp at invalid.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> A philosophical statement
>>
>> There is reality. This is what physicists and engineers deal with.
> 
> 	Engineers deal with models that they hope correspond to reality but
> don't always

No. Ultimately they deal with the reality of a bridge that collapsed

The models are always understood to be ad hoc, pro tem and only a guide.

Only climate scientists believe their models ARE reality.

  (cf. Tacoma Narrows bridge). Physicists attempt to build models
> that correspond to reality but don't always (cf. contradictions between
> general relativity and quantum theory). Then there are chaotic systems and
> emergent phenomena which so far have proven extremely resistant to
> modelling.
>
Exactly, which is why engineers don't build machines that go anywhere 
near chaotic behaviour

Or if they do,m they test it in a wind tunnel, not on a computer.


> 	Nobody can prove that reality exists (cf. solipsism etc) but it is
> the most useful assumption we can make. 

Exactly,. We assume it exists and deal with its immutable aspects.

Even with that assumption nobody can
> prove that reality is logically consistent - it might all be the whim of
> God you can't prove that it isn't - but it is the most useful assumption we
> can make and it hasn't (yet) been disproved.
> 
It cant be disproved - it is a metaphysical assumption.

> 	The core unspoken (usually) theorems of physics are that reality
> exists and that it is logically consistent. If you can prove either of them
> I expect you're due a Nobel and an FRS at least.
> 
Quoting that Wanker Dawkins, 'Science works, bitches'
So does engineering.
Socialism does not.
Neither does praying to sky fairies, chanting 'from the river to the 
sea' or sitting in your mums basement saying 'the world ought to be 
different'...
Of course it ought, you wanker. It just isn't. That's why we call it 
'reality'.



-- 
Climate is what you expect but weather is what you get.
Mark Twain