This is something I’ve been wondering about for some time. Is it possible that some laws of physics are straight-up wrong, and can be disproved as our understanding/technology improves? How concrete are the laws of physics? Is it possible for us to be absolutely certain about anything?
In: Physics
Physicists don’t endeavor to prove their theories right, but instead try to demonstrate they can’t be proven wrong. This is a big important part about how the word “theory” diverges from pure maths and the physical sciences. In the tangible world, you can’t prove you’re right, you can only prove you’re the least wrong you can possibly be.
Our existing mathematical models of physics are the most accurate and successful they’ve ever been. And you have to appreciate the math, which makes a model, which we can only use to predict, has been refined over centuries. You have to appreciate that every refinement also incorporated every single prior observation. The only work that advances our models are those that agree with all prior observation as well as express falsifiable future prediction. Like, string theory is an elegant solution, but it doesn’t solve anything a refinement to our prior models can’t solve, and it includes these string things that are as of yet untestable. In physics, you don’t get to just do that. Strings fell out of a set of equations that made for a self-consistent model, but nothing observed had ever suggested there were strings, necessitating the model.
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