Reclaiming Communist Philosophy: Marx, Lenin, Mao, and the Dialectics of Nature by Au Wilson W. S.;

Author:Au, Wilson W. S.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Information Age Publishing
Published: 2016-12-15T22:23:35+00:00

Because of these metaphysical moments in any measurement, error always exists in the very essence of every experiment. Error is inherent in experiment, by the very nature of what constitutes any experiment. The idea of the length of an object involves fantasy compounded on fantasy. Who has ever seen an ideal circle, an ideal straight line, much less a portion of an ideal straight line marked with ideal equally spaced divisions? Struggle as we may to coerce matter to conform to these ideals, there is simply no way for it to exist as the ideals themselves, so we are confined to working with things that approach ideals to varying degrees of approximation. The circles and rulers we construct can only approximate the ideal circle and ideal ruler in our heads.

3.2.4 Scientific Models and Scientific Error

In science, the term error clearly does not have the same meaning as in its colloquial use where it is synonymous with mistake or blunder. The most carefully performed experiment in the world must contain error. It is not a matter of human error, inadequate equipment, or less than ideal conditions. It lies in the very nature of experiment. To perform a scientific experiment, we must select, manipulate, or somehow cajole matter into conforming to ideals in our heads, to one degree of approximation or another. The quality of our approximations often depends on our creativity in bending and twisting or otherwise transforming matter into conformity with our ideals. An experiment is deemed excellent if it is done with great care and does well at pushing up against the limits of what is possible in approaching the ideal at a particular time in history. In our simple experiment to measure π, there are coarse limitations on the precision obtainable, imposed by the fact that circular objects approach the ideal circle and rulers approach the ideal ruler only with limited precision. With time, money, and effort, improvements can be made, but there are fundamental limitations that cannot be overcome.

If we look more closely at our example, we can get a taste of the intrinsic limits to be expected in any experiment. The inability to obtain the right equipment is not the fundamental limitation on our ability to be arbitrarily precise in measuring the circle. It cannot be done because both the ruler and the circle itself are made up of atoms and molecules that jiggle a lot, undergoing chaotic motions. Moreover, quantum theory tells us that, at best, we can only define and measure some kind of average circumference and average diameter. When we get down to a precision that is too fine, the objects with which we might try to construct circles in order to make measurements can’t be circular anymore; we are not free to mold matter to conform to our ideals to an arbitrarily high level of precision. Mother Nature has something to say about this, and if we try to be too precise, she says, You can’t go further with this line of thought.

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