1) No thing can be determined to be physical if its properties are unknown. Perhaps it has no properties which follow physical laws. The abstract constructs of a detective novel, including discarded scenarios, leave trails detectable by physical science, but the factor which causes the choice of one scenario over another is not known to be physical.

Is something physical only if it's properties can be known?

2) The flexibility of a design stage (and the possibilities of mathematics) are usually seen as attributes (or secondary effects) but actually should be seen as an additional type of reality. Abstractions are not physical but the form in which they are represented is usually accomplished through something we have tracked as physical.

The problem here is that everything is an abstraction to some degree, is everything not physical then?

PS I think "belies" is not the word to use.

I meant 'underlies'.

• If "everything is physical," "physical" has no meaning - quiet - October 18, 2003 - 01:46 UTC
• Michael W. Pearson is a loser - yanniru - December 3, 2003 - 13:17 UTC