The Probability Distribution and 'Elements of Reality'

[Lynch101]

Interesting. Would you say that Maxwell's electrodynamics was incomplete? He believed in the existence of an ether, but was his conviction based on deduction or inference? With hindsight, we would nowadays answer "no" to this question, but for Maxwell the existence of the ether was probably as firmly established as the existence of "systems" with some kind of "location" is for you.

If systems don't have any position whatsoever in 3D space, either they don't exist or they operate in more than 3 dimensions.

I'm not sure if the ether is analogous in that sense.

 

[WernerQH]

I'm not sure if the ether is analogous in that sense.

Of course one could say that Maxwell's electromagnetism was "incomplete" in a sense quite different from quantum theory (although it was successful and passed all experimental tests). Too bad you can't perceive the analogy.

 

[Lynch101]

Of course one could say that Maxwell's electromagnetism was "incomplete" in a sense quite different from quantum theory (although it was successful and passed all experimental tests). Too bad you can't perceive the analogy.

I got the analogy. It was a weak one.

 

[WernerQH]

I got the analogy. It was a weak one.

The point I was trying to make was that different people, at different times, can disagree on what "exists".

 

[Lynch101]

The point I was trying to make was that different people, at different times, can disagree on what "exists".

I know. It was a weak analogy bcos it didn't really characterise the specific question. You could equally have said that people used to believe that fairies exist.