Talk:Thought experiment
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Some thought experiments cannot be performed at all. Einstein's famous "What would I see if I looked at a mirror while riding on a light beam?" provided crucial insights for relativity yet are expressly impossible under the theory it was responsible for generating. User:Two16
Plato's cave?
Isn't Plato's cave a metaphor rather than a thought experiment?
- I'd agree with you. Plato's cave is simply stating that our explanations of the world are like that of the man who ventures out of the cave. In other words, his questions are not framed in the same way as a thought experiment at all; therefore, I'm removing it. If anyone diagrees feel free to state it here and/or revert. Laura Scudder 00:37, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- I guess I'll add something more in defense of removing Plato's allegory of the cave. The phrase thought experiment to me means that the proposed situation needs to have a testable prediction - just like an experiment. For example, Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment because were someone to create a Maxwell's demon, they would see that the temperature in one side of the box gets hotter.
- In contrast, Plato's allegory is a metaphor because although it posits a question about people raised chained in a darkened cave, we are meant to interpret the story as saying that we are in a cave and wouldn't be able to understand what someone who travelled outside told us about the "real world". Since we can't get to this "real world" there is no testable prediction to the hypothetical situation, thus it's an allegory rather than a thought experiment.
- This is a bit nitpicky, but in this interpretation of the meaning of thought experiment, were the story meant to only say something about people raised in caves with only shadows (similar to Mary's room where a girl is raised without colors) it would qualify, but because it is an allegory about our world it does not. Feel free to disagree. Laura Scudder 01:00, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
einstein
what about einstein????
- Indeed, what about Einstein?
- In fact, three of Einstein's most famous thought experiments, the EPR paradox, galileo's ship and the twin paradox are in the list. There are many many more relativity-related thought experiments (riding in a relativistic elevator with a flashlight and a mirror for instance), and you should feel free to write those up and include them if you think they're noteworthy enough. --Laura Scudder | Talk 20:24, 29 May 2005 (UTC)