On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 4:04:14 PM UTC, Chris L Peterson wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Dec 2021 21:53:15 +0000, Martin Brown
> <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >On 19/12/2021 13:53, Chris L Peterson wrote:
> >> On Sun, 19 Dec 2021 13:29:16 +0000, Martin Brown
> >> <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> I think it somewhat unlikely but then Lord Kelvin famously said just
> >>> before radioactivity was discovered that (classical) physics would be
> >>> completely solved within the next couple of decades. The claim turns out
> >>> to be apocryphal but it was still taught during my days at university.
> >>>
> >>> https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/physics/lord-kelvin-and-the-end-of-physics-which-he-never-predicted/
> >>>
> >>> He also said that gliders and aeroplanes would never amount to much and
> >>> put Rutherford off further investigation of radiowaves as "unimportant".
> >>>
> >>> The only thing we know for sure is that our present standard model is
> >>> incomplete and struggles to reconcile gravity with the other forces.
> >>
> >> Arguably, Kelvin wasn't far from wrong.
> >
> >In a binary fence post error sort of way.
> What I'd say is that there's a good chance we now understand the
> majority of the laws of the Universe. That we have a large jigsaw
> puzzle that still has some missing pieces, but we have a good idea
> what the general shapes of those pieces are, and the broad picture
> isn't going to change. I don't think we're in for any major surprises
> or upsets in our existing understanding. I doubt there will be any
> holes at all in our knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature in a
> century. Maybe less.

For my part, it doesn't effect any genuine solar system research, however, I can help those who are lost in a contrived 250+ year narrative that didn't begin as Universal laws of gravitation but as a single and crude overreach-

"Rule III. The qualities of bodies which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever. " Newton

How was Sir Isaac to know that his clockwork solar system was built on a mistake and misadventure with timekeeping insofar as the predictive usefulness in using the daily change in the position of stars does not translate into planetary dynamics?-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYy0EQBnqHI

Experience has informed me over the years that many of the adherents of the mistake and the quasi-legal language of empiricism in which it is wrapped would prefer to die in error rather than help recover what can be salvaged from modelling.
A single step towards restoring genuine solar system research in all its facets is more productive and more creative than a million steps into a contrived narrative that cannot survive 21st century imaging tools and neither should anyone expect it.

If the joyless wish to congratulate themselves that all is finished and there is no more to do then have a ball, it means research can begin in earnest for those who realise it is just the beginning.