Bob shared the following article about the nature of fields after one of our discussions about the nature of physical reality.

Within our current physics models Fields cause measurable/observable physical effects at a distance.

How can this be?  How can a “cause” at a space-time “point” create the “effect” at another space-time point?  Within our current physics models  we assume there is some medium for “propagation”, but we don’t know what it is—even within a vacuum.  Is there a better way to understand the nature and limitations of field equations?

Yes, but to do so we need to start with different assumptions about how reality works to create any kind of “change” in our measurable/observable physical world.

The first thing we must realize is that “time” and “space” are attributes of what we observe as the “changes” take place in our measurable/observable physical world.  In particular, we only get a sense of time because something like the hands of a clock or the atomic state of some atom has changed.  Space appears as an inescapable attribute within the manifestation of our objective physical world as a result of the relationships (including separation) that essentially define our objects.   Relationships between anything we can describe within or outside of space-time are independent of space-time attributes.

Our models that evolved by observing change assume that the cause of the change must be explainable within the model—even though there is growing evidence that this is not so within current physics.  It has become clear that time and space are not fundamental “dimensions”, but rather a historically developed bookkeeping framework we use within our current physics models, for characterizing attributes of change.   In so doing, we infer elaborate, but contrived, ways to relate the […]