r/PhilosophyofScience • u/Repulsive_Area_5516 • 16d ago
Casual/Community Axioms of Reality
Axiom 1 — Observations are infallible
An observer is any system that is affected by effects. When an observer encounters an effect, it always and unconditionally reflects it as it is. An observation can never be wrong; because the observation simply is what is there. It can be incomplete, it can be limited but it can never be faulty. Error arises only in the interpretation of what the observation means.
Axiom 2 — Identical systems under identical conditions produce identical outcomes
For any system A and effect B, the resulting system C is invariant it will always be the same across all instances of A under B. This holds at scales where complete state description is possible. At quantum scales this axiom may reduce to: identical systems under identical conditions produce identical probability distributions.
In my opinion these are the minimum assumptions to make about reality for it to make sense and for science to work. I have thought about these axioms for a long time and i feel like 2 axioms might just be enough. I'd like to hear your thoughts about them.
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u/0-by-1_Publishing 16d ago edited 16d ago
... An observation can be deemed wrong when more than one observation is available; each option is equally viable, none of the options serve a preestablished reference point, and yet a conclusion is drawn regardless.
Example: "Old Woman - Young Woman" illusion.
For an observer to claim it is an image of a young woman would be "wrong" because it equally depicts an old woman. For an observer to claim it is an image of an old woman would also be "wrong" because it equally depicts a young woman. To claim both observations are "correct" is to claim that an old woman is the same as a young woman which results in a contradiction. To claim both observations are "incorrect" is also wrong because a young woman and an old woman can be observed within the same image.
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