Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!labrea!decwrl!pyramid!thirdi!sarge From: sarge@thirdi.UUCP (Sarge Gerbode) Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech Subject: Re: Truth of theories Message-ID: <162@thirdi.UUCP> Date: Wed, 9-Sep-87 02:38:02 EDT Article-I.D.: thirdi.162 Posted: Wed Sep 9 02:38:02 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 10-Sep-87 07:11:44 EDT References: <20297@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <20304@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Reply-To: sarge@thirdi.UUCP (Sarge Gerbode) Organization: Institute for Research in Metapsychology Lines: 33 Keywords: truth mass resistance Summary: We detect mass by its resistance. In article <889@klipper.cs.vu.nl> biep@cs.vu.nl (J. A. "Biep" Durieux) writes: >>I think it is safe to say that most of us have >>conceptions of acceleration and force, but mass is something we experience >>only through F=ma. > >Funny. For my feeling "mass" just *is* matter, and so very concrete to me >(My physics teacher didn't like me equating the two..), whereas "force" is >a much more esoteric notion for me. (I know what getting hit by a stone is, >however.. :-)) I think Bob Myers is right here. At least that corresponds to *my* experience. I wouldn't experience aomething as having mass unless it resisted a force I applied to it. A feather offers little resistance, so we say it is not massive. A lead weight offers greater resistance, so we experience it as more massive. More precisely, at the phenomenological level, mass is experienced as aq resistance to *acceleratd translation* (acceleration of an object as a whole in a certainj direction), while *solidity* and *viscosity* is experienced as resistance to *transformation* (change of shape). Friction is experienced as resistance to *simple translation*. Phenomenologically, the solidity and massiveness of the universe around us is experienced through the resistance the universe gives to our efforts to change it. -- "Absolute knowledge means never having to change your mind." Sarge Gerbode Institute for Research in Metapsychology 950 Guinda St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 UUCP: pyramid!thirdi!sarge