My example of newtonian mechanics was actually to exemplify a simple model that's obviously correct to everybody (given that you use it for what it's useful for). Like, everybody would agree that a magnifying glass (newtonian mechanics) works for looking at stuff at a normal human scale, but an electron microscope (quantum mechanics) is something there can be more disagreement about among experts.
I guess my true objection is how this poll will be interpreted, which is more about popular perception of how science works than anything else.
I don't know if I'm interpreting you correctly, but I for one have enough faith in people to guess that most people wouldn't interpret the poll as implying physicists disagree about the wavefunction of the ground state of hydrogen or something.
"I don't know if I'm interpreting you correctly, but I for one have enough faith in people to guess that most people wouldn't interpret the poll as implying physicists disagree about the wavefunction of the ground state of hydrogen or something."
I guess I'm on the opposite end. I think many people will have any idea what a ground state is and those very people will come away most confidently believing physicists don't understand shit.
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I'm not sure what you mean with "load bearing"?
My example of newtonian mechanics was actually to exemplify a simple model that's obviously correct to everybody (given that you use it for what it's useful for). Like, everybody would agree that a magnifying glass (newtonian mechanics) works for looking at stuff at a normal human scale, but an electron microscope (quantum mechanics) is something there can be more disagreement about among experts.
I don't know if I'm interpreting you correctly, but I for one have enough faith in people to guess that most people wouldn't interpret the poll as implying physicists disagree about the wavefunction of the ground state of hydrogen or something.
"I don't know if I'm interpreting you correctly, but I for one have enough faith in people to guess that most people wouldn't interpret the poll as implying physicists disagree about the wavefunction of the ground state of hydrogen or something."
I guess I'm on the opposite end. I think many people will have any idea what a ground state is and those very people will come away most confidently believing physicists don't understand shit.