"The laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood."

Sean Carroll presents implications of quantum field theory on #limits to understanding https://t.co/zmoNtDdpWg

🧐 “Perhaps there is no such thing as an easy or hard discipline. Maybe there are only easy and hard questions. Biology only seems so hard because it has been defined by a set of very hard questions. Physics only seems easy because centuries of effort by deeply insightful thinkers have produced a set of answerable questions.”

“We don’t know if black holes are simpler than forests. We can’t know, until we have a general effective theory that explains the existence of forests or until we can observe the most detailed dynamics of black-hole collapse and evaporation. A statement of relative complexity cannot be made without thoroughly defining the type of questions we are asking for each system.”

“Observing the strange similarity of phenomena across disciplines might incline us to search for brand new mechanisms and principles. This will sometimes demand a less detailed, more abstract perspective.”

- SFI Prof Chris Kempes & External Prof Van Savage in their new piece on the #limits of knowledge and what #hardscience means, at Aeon Magazine:

https://aeon.co/ideas/when-science-hits-a-limit-learn-to-ask-different-questions