Why do we measure things in arbitrary units? Is it because the universe itself is composed of arbitrary units?

Why do we measure things in arbitrary units? Is it because the universe itself is composed of arbitrary units?

If it weren't, though, what the fuck else could we do to ensure absolute certainty with our measurements?

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They aren't arbitrary. They're agreed upon globally.

Counting numbers are not arbitrary. Their symbols might seem to be.

You can not determine absolute certainty, regardless of your units.

wtf do you mean arbitrary? as opposed to god given ones?

They are there to act as standards retard.

But the units which measure the universe themselves are arbitrary (quanta), if I understand correctly

Which is exactly my point. Why the fuck not? Is there some flaw in our methodology as a whole?

We need to organize information. Most of these random units are based off of natural phenomena.

For example, the fact we defined a second as "the duration of 9192631770 cycles of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom."

The problem as i see is that you have a "wrong" intuition on what is measuring.
It just compares two things

But we organize information according to our own flawed ability to take in the very specific, innate quanta-based enumerations of the universe.

We're flawed.

Nobody fucking rephrases seconds to a 9192631770 point system, they use good old decimal and they round it every time

But that's not even the point I was trying to make

The point I was trying to make is that the universe itself operates completely arbitrarily even when it comes to completely and entirely individual units. How the fuck can you take a reality like that seriously? It has no basis in real truth, it's just making shit up.

No you're not getting it

The two thing that are being compared both mean nothing, because they both exist on a whim and could be anything entirely different from what they are

So why the fuck does anyone care?

Because they are handy in everyday situations.
There are Planck's units and other nautral units that are not arbitary, but they are used only when there is a reason to do so.
wikiwand.com/en/Natural_units

No, we just don't give a fuck happens after 6 decimal points of accuracy.

Radians. Radians aren't arbitrary.

As for everything else in nature... immeasurable fractals and non-terminating decimals. We can only approximate most measurements. So... anything we could come up with would be arbitrary. So... quit whining about it.

>So... quit whining about it.
So quit whining about a reality that is basically entirely fictional?

I mean, I wouldn't if it weren't 99% bullshit.

Although, I do believe we could be, relative to the the arbitrary laws of the universe, not arbitrary ourselves (and, what I mean by this, is that we would exactly match our universe at the very finest level, even though that level itself is bullshit), if either our cognitive structures were entirely different or we had more processing power.

>a reality that is basically entirely fictional?
This is entirely weak, complete speculation by someone who just learned the word "arbitrary," and misuses it frequently.

>arbitrary
>based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system

So you're saying that the formation of quanta was never random, and that the system that that choice is based on wasn't itself random? Or are you some kind of retarded theist? If so, was that deity's choice not random, or was it decided by yet another power? And, again, you could ask the same question infinitely...

I don't care for your condescension, pleblord. Enjoy your textbook fabricated version of reality.

Units are indeed arbitrarily chosen, but for pragmatic reasons. However, the physical constants that we base most of these units off of are not arbitrary (time being perhaps one notable exception).

No, there is pretty much always a practical limit to the level of precision of a measurement. In some cases there's a physical limit as well. However, experimental physicists are almost always interested in a range of values anyway. You can dismiss all of physics based on a lack of exactness, but the fact that we can be confident our predicted values lie in a narrow range is pretty convincing.

>if i understand correctly.

I don't think you do... Quantized values are always closely related to physical constants. Things that we believe are constant by the laws of nature. The constants of a single electron aren't arbitrary. If you want you can have a set of units consisting of these constants, that would be the least "arbitrary".

Fuck I took so much time out to post I didn't even realize this was a bait thread

The constants of the universe are arbitrary, though. Every single force in the universe -could- (considering completely random method of determination) operate in a totally different direction than it does, on a totally different plane. There could be 957675 dimensions yet there are three! Everything is arbitrary unless you ascribe some strange, intrinsic meaning to the things around you. But scientists don't believe in that, and if they did, meaning can only exist relative to other meaning. It cannot exist relative to no meaning at all.

Your post was shit, so your time was wasted.

Obviously just blather from another well-trained egotist. Go fire rockets into space and pretend it means anything, you fucking retard. Why are you wasting time here?

It's certainly arbitrary on some level, but you're not going at the fundamentals by talking about units.

Chill senpai xD

So what does go at the fundamentals (I really don't know)? And how are the fundamentals themselves at all anything except fictional?

Although this was not my original point I guess, my original point was, why are do we consider the fundamentals to be divisible in the first place? Why do we have to measure things in discrete units, or the rate of change between units, (which gives a less but still foggy view), instead of as whatever is happening itself as it truly is?

Unless I'm missing something VERY BIG, which I might be.

Also I won't chill. Never. I will not chill until I'm dead.

Numbers and units are just a way of describing things. We build models that match up with and predict reality, but the model is not reality. The map is not the territory

Nice trips

Maybe my OP was really just complaining all along

I wish we could see reality from the get-go

Even if we did, you would never be certain of it

>yfw the physical units form an abelian group

>Why do we measure things in arbitrary units? Is it because the universe itself is composed of arbitrary units?
We measure time in the non-arbitrary units of days and years, although the SI unit, seconds, is pretty arbitrary. But whatever "units" the universe is composed of are incredibly small and it's often more useful to have units that are perceptible on a human scale.

>absolute certainty with our measurements
lolwat?

>Bu.. but the laws are arbitrary because the units are arbitrary
>muh dimensions!

Fuck off