I would like to ask any non-realists on the subject of quantum mechanics to wait and hold their comments until called for in a later post. Do me this favor, please. … Still, it is not the only view that exists in the modern physics community. I do not feel obliged to present the other views right away, but I feel obliged to warn my readers that there are other views, which I will not be presenting during the initial stages of the introduction.
I believe we have an incoming inferential distance issue here. By Hofstadter’s Law, this series on quantum mechanics will take longer than you expect. If dealing with objections or rival theories is scheduled for a place far along the trail, it could be weeks or months away. What is to be done about comments during that time? Not just from non-realists, but from other disputants. I have never seen a quantum mechanics discussion that was not plagued with fundamental disagreements and differing interpretations.
“Please hold your questions until the end” means that the comments will be less useful than average while waiting. Moderation could enforce that request, but you might stifle quite a bit, and how many people hold comments in abeyance for weeks rather than just wandering off? Alternately, the comment threads could repeatedly derail on issues you plan to address somewhere down the line.
I mean to say that there will be objections at many points, some of which you will want to discuss at a later date. Failure to address or channel those objections productively will remove much of the value of approaching the topic through the blog format. I presume that you have at times been surprised by objections to ideas that you considered fairly obvious, or the vehemence and persistence of objections after you have explained your views. I suggest that this will be one of those times. Even if you have already taken that into account, I suggest that you have likely underestimated what is coming. Re-pad any estimates.
I would like to ask any non-realists on the subject of quantum mechanics to wait and hold their comments until called for in a later post. Do me this favor, please. … Still, it is not the only view that exists in the modern physics community. I do not feel obliged to present the other views right away, but I feel obliged to warn my readers that there are other views, which I will not be presenting during the initial stages of the introduction.
I believe we have an incoming inferential distance issue here. By Hofstadter’s Law, this series on quantum mechanics will take longer than you expect. If dealing with objections or rival theories is scheduled for a place far along the trail, it could be weeks or months away. What is to be done about comments during that time? Not just from non-realists, but from other disputants. I have never seen a quantum mechanics discussion that was not plagued with fundamental disagreements and differing interpretations.
“Please hold your questions until the end” means that the comments will be less useful than average while waiting. Moderation could enforce that request, but you might stifle quite a bit, and how many people hold comments in abeyance for weeks rather than just wandering off? Alternately, the comment threads could repeatedly derail on issues you plan to address somewhere down the line.
I mean to say that there will be objections at many points, some of which you will want to discuss at a later date. Failure to address or channel those objections productively will remove much of the value of approaching the topic through the blog format. I presume that you have at times been surprised by objections to ideas that you considered fairly obvious, or the vehemence and persistence of objections after you have explained your views. I suggest that this will be one of those times. Even if you have already taken that into account, I suggest that you have likely underestimated what is coming. Re-pad any estimates.