Chris, (01)
I agree with everything that Pat said in his last note,
and he agreed with me. (02)
In summary, (03)
1. The assumption of an extensional or intensional position
is independent of, but compatible with either a 3-D or
a 4-D ontology. (04)
2. The formulation of an extensional or intensional 3-D
position could be mapped to or from an extensional or
intensional 4-D position by the same methods used to map
any 3-D statement to or from 4-D. (05)
3. The methods of measurement have improved enormously from
the 19th to the 21st centuries, and the units such as meter,
second, ampere, volt, etc., are specified with far greater
precision, but they are independent of any changes in the
physical theories. (The kilogram, by the way, hasn't
changed in any way -- it's still defined by the same lump
of metal stored in a vault in Paris.) (06)
4. An ontology for UoM does not depend in any way on the
assumptions of extensional vs. intensional, 3-D vs. 4-D,
or Newtonian vs. relativistic vs. quantum mechanical vs.
quantum electrodynamical vs. string theory or many other
hypotheses, assumptions, and theories. (07)
5. Therefore, a microtheory about units of measure can and
should be stated in a way that it can be used with any
consistent set of assumptions in point #4 plus many
others that may be proposed in the future. (08)
Comment about point #3: The reason why the units of measure
are independent of any theory is that they are defined in terms
of repeatable physical experiments. The theories that interpret
the results of those experiments have changed drastically over
the past 150 years, but every new theory must be consistent
with the brute facts observed in any repeatable experiment. (09)
John (010)
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