In your biggest ideas book, you question whether Newton's formulation of classical mechanics or the principle of least action is correct in terms of telling us what nature is doing. But unless I'm mistaken, you appear to be more in the camp that believes physics tells us something deep about reality rather than it being purely about building models and should not be taken literally. Why do you view this local versus global aspect of physics differently to how you view quantum field theory for example? Well, it's possible I wasn't clear what I was trying to say in that section of the book, I do believe that physics tells ussomething deep about reality. They're different languages or different vocabularies for talking
Welcome to the May 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!
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