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  • Hipparchus | Julian Barbour | FQxI's "My Favourite" Ep 3

Welcome back to the FQxI "My Favourite" series, where our members explore their most cherished scientific ideas.

In episode three, Julian Barbour takes us back to 150 BC to uncover the revolutionary insights of Hipparchus, the great ancient astronomer. Hipparchus developed one of the first dynamical equations to describe the Sun's motion across the ecliptic, laying the foundation for the entire field of dynamics. He introduced the concept of relating time to the Sun’s position, relying on precise ratios and geometric reasoning.

This theory explained the non-uniformity in the Sun's motion and established a paradigm that has helped shape physics for millennia. Hipparchus’s legacy reminds us of the deep connections between observation, mathematics, and the quest to understand the cosmos.

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Keywords: #Dynamics #Hipparchus #Solar_Motion

There are problems with equations:

  • Disrespect, for the world we live in, is implied by the idea that equations must live outside of the world in a special Platonic realm. Belief in a Platonic realm implies a very bad attitude to our world: apparently, our world isn’t good enough; apparently, our world hasn’t got the wherewithal; apparently, our world hasn't got what it takes.
  • Equations don’t move, they are just relationships. Even with delta symbols, equations can’t explain why the world is moving. The world is a system, and a system requires logical elements, as well as equations and numbers.

Without a whole setup to support them, equations are pretty well useless.

Without numbers that apply to the categories in the equations, we wouldn’t have a world. I.e. without (what we would represent as) numbers that apply to the (what we would represent as) categories in the (what we would represent as) equations, we wouldn’t have a world.

And without an on-the-spot aspect of the world that knows about the separate and distinct equations, the separate and distinct categories, and the separate and distinct numbers, we wouldn’t have a world.

And without an aspect of the world that acted/ acts to assign numbers to the categories, to initialise the world and/or to resolve on-the-spot tricky situations, we wouldn’t have a world.

In other words, without a whole setup to support them, equations are absolutely useless.

And, how come the world seems to know its own equations?

Even in the theoretically-fully-predictable, billiard-ball-type world that some people seem to believe that we live in, there is the question of how come, at the sub-nanoscale, this type of world would know that this particular equation applies and not some other equation, or this particular number applies and not some other number.

I.e., there is the problem of how, at the foundations of the world, the sub-nanoscale “billiard balls” know their own equations and numbers. People seem unwilling to face the fact that logically, there exists a consciousness/ knowledge aspect at the foundations of the world, seemingly possessed by matter itself. Matter seemingly has “internal” aspects.

Similarly, the problem with quantum number jumps is NOT that the numbers are unpredictable; the problem is that people seem to believe that we live in a billiard-ball-type world where every detail of every outcome SHOULD be predictable, because matter has no “internal” aspects, i.e. matter could have no “freedom of expression”.

Clearly, matter DOES have “internal” aspects: knowledge and free response-to-situations aspects, that are the hallmarks of a genuine system.

And, equations don’t move the numbers.

(What is represented as) law-of-nature equations is not what is moving the (what is represented as) numbers in the world.

These equations merely represent relationships between categories. And the numbers are not moving themselves either.

What is initiating number movement is necessarily an entirely different aspect of the world, an aspect of the world that can’t be measured, an aspect of the world that has to be inferred, or assumed.

Because, let’s face it, the categories (like mass or position) are the only things that can potentially be measured. Numbers can’t themselves be measured, and nor can equations be measured.

The aspect of the world that initiates number movement can only be represented in statements that contain logical connective symbols like IF, AND, OR, IS TRUE, and THEN.

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