Quote:
Originally Posted by slang
Many misconceptions seem to be based on the idea that the universe should behave like the schematic idealized simplified diagrams that are often used to explain concepts. Like diagrams of the solar system, with nice circular, evenly spaced orbits. The balloon analogy for expansion. Average numbers used to classify things.
It's like some people are unable to extrapolate back 'up' from the simplification to the chaotic real world/universe, with shades of gray instead of hard drawn lines.
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That's actually something I recognised in me, a while ago.
[My wife recently "diagnosed" me as having a slight bit of aspergers, after having read an article in a computing newspaper/magazine about how many people in IT have it. I corrupted that, and call myself an "asparagus". There's a genuine as-diagnosed-by-a-proper psychologist aspergers guy in my office - we like to use that "asparagus" line a lot.]
Anyway, I realised long ago that I don't like change. If a I learn a certain "rule" I like it to stay that way. I do have trouble adapting sometimes.
One BAUT-related example is about how I "learned" in College (14 years old - "Junior High" or something ? in "American") that
going faster makes your time slow down. An abbreviated "twins" scenario was in the text book. It was VERY hard for me, later, to internalise that time dilation (in SR) is symetrical.
And don't get me started on the nice little electrons orbiting the Nucleus like a kind of solar-system model.
So anyway, I agree with you Slang, but would add that
change may be one of the reasons for the "...some people are unable to extrapolate back 'up' from the simplification...".