Why believe in electrons and black holes if we can't see them?
On what basis do we choose to accept peer reviewed proofs of science? How well do we understand what scientists and science journalism report to us? How does it affect our world view and our faith?
I find the proposition that my body consists of nothing more than a mass of electrons, protons, neutrons, and all manner of sub-atomic particles, completely unsatisfying. Long before the modern crop of scientists (including that fellow with the wild hair for whom Element 99 was named) postulated such things, the Romans came up with a far better atomic theory.
According to Lucretius all matter is made up of atoms, each a tiny copy of the whole. So the atoms of a tree would all have little branches, the atoms of a fish would have fins and a tail, and I would be made up of zllions of Didgelike atoms, each one an exact copy of myself right down to the big ears, whiskers, and spectacles. Don't you find that more realistic, Hartfire?
Of course, Lucretius would have realised that all those atoms wouldn't fit together without enough space to absorb all the pointy, pokey bits, and he allowed that there is sufficient elbow room within the human body for elbows, and other protuberances, to be able to move without constant collisions. (It's a well-known medical fact that people who don't have enough space between their atoms are likely to experience the kind of pain modern doctors diagnose as arthritis. Aesculapius would have just shaken his head at their lack of knowledge.)
If all the space was removed from the human body the atoms would be so compact that they would probably fit into Bertrand Russell's teapot.
Probably the spaceless and atomically condensed human would end up as a speck of a tea leaf too small to see. Enjoyed your literary references very much.
Thanks, Hartfire. I think I may have uncovered new material on the origin of arthritis. Now if I can find a way to increase the inter-atomic space in the body I'll make a fortuine. What a shame I'm too old to spend it. :)
Heavens! I think an idea like that might actually work. Try writing it as a science fiction story and I bet the boffins will start working on a way to build the technology.
True, the machines function as extensions of our senses in the same way as a crane enables us to lift weights heavier than our muscles and bones can handle.
Benedict Arnold 