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Old 04-July-2008, 11:57 PM
grant hutchison grant hutchison is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Svemir View Post
No, I don't think your analogy is in place. Why would scientists use metaphore?
Because physics is metaphor. It's our current best way of telling ourselves about the Universe; it shouldn't be confused with what the Universe actually is.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Svemir View Post
Expansion of space causes a real effect - redshift. You can't back off in the realm of mathematics on this issue.
No backing off is involved. Something certainly happens that causes cosmological redshift. Our best model of that "something" involves the mathematics of an expanding metric. End of story.
You don't need to ask many successive questions about any aspect of physics before you get to a point at which we have to say: "Well, here's the maths that matches the observations. That's all we know." Whether it's expanding space or quantum mechanics, our knowledge reduces to mathematical stories about reality, not reality itself.

Grant Hutchison