Economists Are Smarter Than Physicists

Economists understand the Big Picture.

Photo by Geoffrey Crofte on Unsplash

An empty wallet is very much part of the economy. Economists do not sneeze at the importance of that what is not there money-wise; they recognize that entire nations rise early in the morning to make sure the wallet does not stay empty.

When a laundry basket is empty, this means that there are no clothes that need cleaning. Economists understand that when the work is done, the fun can start, we can go do something else.

With these two examples, economists understand the Big Picture in light of the empty position. In one case, the world has to be turned upside down so the empty wallet does not stay empty. In the other case, we can relax, enjoy the moment because all work is done.

Physicists are not that smart. When they are confronted with the empty position, then they declare it unimportant, no matter the importance of that empty position. They make no distinction between the empty position that requires an (immediate) action and the empty position that does not require any action.

Economists are smarter than physicists because economists work with the actual Big Picture. Economists recognize that the empty wallet is part and parcel of the economy.

What do physicists miss?

These otherwise extremely smart people miss just those spots where the empty position cannot be seen as unimportant. Here are the spots:

Physicists do not have a good understanding of the empty position. They do not accept, for instance, that there was a Year Zero. That is, there is a small group of scientists that does accept there is a Year Zero: Astronomers. Here is why.

Astronomers looking at events 10,000 or 100,000 years ago don’t want to deal with that missing year all the time. It is too annoying. Therefore, astronomers put that missing year back in the calendar; they do have a Year Zero. Everyone else denies a year has gone missing.

Mathematicians also fight among themselves over number zero. The largest group of mathematicians — Number Theorists — used to be the only group there was. In the olden days, zero was not seen as a natural number.

Then Peano came along and started the natural numbers with the empty set. From that moment on, we have Set Theorists as the other group among mathematicians, and they are still the smallest group. They start out with zero as the important empty spot, yet do not give it any additional properties (such as seen with the enormous forces associated with the empty wallet).

Meanwhile, the large group of Number Theorists moved on and they now consider the integers the actual numbers of math. They still regard zero as totally nothing.

Physicists are trying to embrace the nothing since about 2000, yet their attempts show us that they still miss understanding the Big Picture. When considering ‘Nothing’ from a physics perspective, they point at a vacuum. It is a nice attempt, but a vacuum is a very special condition. When opening a wallet that is empty it may feel like we are being sucked in, but physically that is not what is happening.

What physicists need to learn is that zero has two different sides to itself; it is not a number with a singular meaning.

010 already shows this.

The first zero in 010 can be placed there or not, and the total does not change. It’s like the empty laundry basket: We can do something else or we can do nothing.

The second zero in 010 must be in place. If we take it out, the total changes dramatically. It is like the empty wallet: Something needs to be done because the outcome is not the desired outcome.

Economists are smarter than physicists because they work with the actual Big Picture. Physicists put their feet on the empty position instead; they don’t accept the Big Picture for what it is. Physicists tell us loud and clear that they deny the importance of the empty position.

The article, the Big Bang Egg, is a quick introduction toward seeing what physicists are not seeing about the beginning of the material universe.

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Structural Philosopher

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