| Actually, this is a very good question. The vast majority of people have not done the experiments themselves. We actually do 'take it on faith' about a lot of things, like the earth is spherical, the earth travels around the sun, how gravity behaves etc. etc. We also think people from former times were idiots for believing the Sun went around the Earth -- even though both would appear identical to casual observation. We take it on faith from others in an appeal to authority. I, personally, have done very few basic experiments and my numbers differed wildly from the expected number (I suck at experiments). Science, natural philosophy, has completely divorced itself from the whole of philosophy and any other kind of thinking. Science is able to describe my friend's physical attributes in some detail, but science can not describe our friendship -- the faith and trust that goes into it doesn't fall within the purview of science, but it's nevertheless a reality that we all deal with. Equations are simply abstractions to model the real, physical world. When our mental shorthand substitutes those models for the real thing in our thinking we get into problems. |
Erm, I don't think they were "idiots". And I'd say you're pretty safe to totally dismiss the opinion of somebody that does. Our understanding of the world, and the mental tools that we've developed to aid our understanding have developed in step. To call our forebears idiots for a misapprehension is to fail to comprehend the continuum of our advancement.
> We take it on faith from others in an appeal to authority.
You're certainly free to "take it on faith", but I wouldn't recommend it. Learn about science as much as you're able, and if possible try and understand things from first principles. You might find it rewarding to leave your "faith" at the door and get even a glimmer of the self-supporting system of tested knowledge that science provides.
> Equations are simply abstractions to model the real, physical world.
Equations and models maybe be abstractions but there's nothing simple about it, and they are capable representing profound truths related to the nature of the physical world. Those truths let us directly affect the real world in practical ways.
I'm sorry but I find your statements a little wishy-washy!