Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius
I think he would say that because of elitist norms of the day.
Would he say that today? I think not.
|
I don't know enough about the circumstances in which he made the purported remark to judge whether or not it had anything to do with elitist norms nor about the his personality to know if he would say something similar today.
Anyway, more to the point of your gravity scenario as described above, it is my impression that while popular accounts (and even professional qualitative appraisals) of physics often employ the kinds of images and metaphors you mention [e.g., a sphere laying on a(n elastic) cloth], it is not possible to develop or put forward a new idea in that "language", not at least without being **extremely** precise, and ideally explicitly mathematical, about what you mean by qualitative phrases such as "the fabric of space", etc. Absent such a precise meaning, no one can really say whether the idea is right...or even wrong...can't really be sure what it means at all. In short, you are using the language in which physicists talk to the public (and reporters), not the language in which they actually work and communicate with each other.
This doubtless sounds more critical than I intend; all I am really saying is that I doubt that what you wrote can be evaluated one way or the other expressed in that way, even if you have something extremely clear/precise in mind yourself.
-Ww