You seem to be agreeing with me in a disagreeable tone. Instrumentalism [1] is precisely what I am rooting for.
That's exactly what I said in my OP: "All scientific models are scale variant e.g contextual."
>You can't charactierize your loacl approximation as a general theory
The exact same criticism can be laid upon your local approximation.
You have chosen precisely the scale at which your 'general model' works.
And you have ignored all other scales at which your 'general model' doesn't work.
You are chery-picking your scale - the domain of applicability of your model.
>Just like the Newtonian model works well until you reach the scales where relativistic effects demand the shift to relativity.
And what if you go the other way? At quantum scale neither Newton nor Einstein works.
>Just don't expect to project it outside of its useful scale
That's exactly what I said also: "Scientific models are pragmatic at best. Useful for a particular purpose within some domain of applicability."
So I don't see how you could possibly be appealing to any notion of a 'general theory' without also coming up with a 'general and objective utility function'.
What may be a useful to a Quantum Physicist needs not be useful to a Cosmologist.
The only hope for a 'general theory' is the Theory of Everything. We don't have one of those. Well, physicists don't - theists do.
Given a finite data set, an infinite number of functions/curves can explain it. This is curve-fitting 101 stuff.
All explanatory models are either an over-fit or an under-fit to the data. With the fine print being "acceptable error rate". "The Earth is flat" may be wrong, but it could be acceptably wrong to me.
It doesn't matter what we SAY about the shape of the Earth though, does it?
It only matters how we use/apply those theories in practice.
Practical errors have consequences.
Theoretical errors don't. It's just lip service without follow-through.
I can SAY that the Earth is triangular and nothing will happen. Q.E.D If you insist that it is in (some way) wrong or incorrect for me to say that the Earth is triangular. Well. The best I can do is to tell you to mind your own business.
I can't remember the last time the Earth's shape mattered to my practical, decision-making process.
The shape of the Earth is just a model [1] - an approximation. All models have margins of error. All models are wrong, some are useful [2]. The map is not the territory [3]. All scientific models are scale variant [4] e.g contextual.
Scientific models are pragmatic at best. Useful for a particular purpose within some domain of applicability
When last did you take the curvature of the Earth into account when arranging your furniture?
Of course, you can always dismiss my perspective as "Just another nihilistic, depressed anti-realist"
That's exactly what I said in my OP: "All scientific models are scale variant e.g contextual."
>You can't charactierize your loacl approximation as a general theory
The exact same criticism can be laid upon your local approximation.
You have chosen precisely the scale at which your 'general model' works. And you have ignored all other scales at which your 'general model' doesn't work.
You are chery-picking your scale - the domain of applicability of your model.
>Just like the Newtonian model works well until you reach the scales where relativistic effects demand the shift to relativity.
And what if you go the other way? At quantum scale neither Newton nor Einstein works.
>Just don't expect to project it outside of its useful scale
That's exactly what I said also: "Scientific models are pragmatic at best. Useful for a particular purpose within some domain of applicability."
So I don't see how you could possibly be appealing to any notion of a 'general theory' without also coming up with a 'general and objective utility function'. What may be a useful to a Quantum Physicist needs not be useful to a Cosmologist.
The only hope for a 'general theory' is the Theory of Everything. We don't have one of those. Well, physicists don't - theists do.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumentalism