[Physics] Tesla and his nonsense

[Doug Marett]

Hi Tom,

    I don't buy your argument that such language in science is acceptable
because it has become a customary form of scientific discourse, i.e. the
use of contradictory or oxymoron-ic phraseology  . Rather, I think it is
better to view such deliberate misuse of the meaning of words in physics as
a form of doublespeak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak, which has
its origins, in part, in the doublethink of George Orwell's 1984. It is in
a sense, the "political language" of physics.
What we are talking about is the  intentional ambiguity in language or to
actual inversions of meaning (e.g., "I just want you to know that, when we
talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
It is summed up by Edward Herman in describing the purpose of doublespeak

 "What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to
lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the
ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out
those that don’t fit an agenda or program."

  Why else use contradictory language in the description of physical
phenomenon? Why else ask student to "abandon reason" when considering
physical theory? Why else ask, as Feynman did, for his students to believe
6 impossible things before breakfast?

Doug

On Wed, Nov 9, 2016 at 3:54 PM, Thomas Goodey <thomas at flyingkettle.com>
wrote:

> On 5 Nov 2016 at 12:00, Doug wrote:
>
> > Really, your going to insult Tesla, such sacrilege : )
>
> I call it how I see it.
>
> > Tesla's point is perfectly valid; space, emptiness,
> > nothingness, these are all words to describe "a lack of
> > properties"...
>
> No, they are not.
>
> > ... the only attribute of the words "empty space"
> > by definition is that it has no properties (and that is
> > without even considering a 4th dimension of time) if
> > language and words are to have any meaning, i.e. the
> > "properties of empty space" is an oxymoron. All Tesla is
> > pointing out is the literal contradiction in terms; as soon
> > as you say that empty space has properties, like
> > permittivity and permeability, then it is no longer
> > "nothing", it is now "something". Modern physics contains
> > many such contradictions in terms, and these should be cause
> > for concern, because besides everything else that is wrong
> > with it, it is a misuse of language.
>
> No, your very description shows that Tesla's point is null.
> It's a mere perversion of words. If the term "empty space"
> is used to mean something (actually not a thing) that has
> no properties whatever (except this meta-property),
> INCLUDING NO METRIC PROPERTIES, then no example of it can
> be found in our universe (indeed by definition it could not
> be found). So talking about it would be an utter waste of
> time. Also no term would remain for what the normal man
> currently calls "empty space": for example, what we find
> (to a high approximation) between our galaxy and the
> Andromeda galaxy. That thing has metric properties and has
> a geometry as well as a permittivity and a permeability,
> and it's perfectly legitimate to argue about what geometry
> it has, and to say that it is curved and so on.
>
> It is generally considered reprehensible to use the term
> "white" for what other people refer to as "black". So I
> cannot accept Tesla's idea that the phrase "empty space"
> should be used in the way you suggested. Apart from being a
> completely useless locution because not corresponding to
> anything, it also would run completely against general
> scientific usage.
>
> Thomas Goodey
> ******************
>
> But remember, please, the rules by which we live.
> We are not built to comprehend a lie.
> We can neither love, nor pity, nor forgive.
> If you make a slip in handling us you die.
>
> Rudyard Kipling, 'Secret of the Machines'
>
>
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