The grand, all-encompassing ambition of making the entire discipline of physics your personal toolkit. It's the applied version of knowing how the universe works and then bending every branch—classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, relativity, quantum theory—to your will. This is the foundation for any civilization that moves past simple chemical rockets and fossil fuels. It's the difference between being a passenger in a universe of forces and being the conductor of the cosmic orchestra.
Example: "Building a warp drive isn't just an engineering problem; it's the final exam in physics harnessing. You need to unify gravity (GR) with the small stuff (QM), manipulate spacetime metrics, and contain exotic energies without destroying yourself. It's not a machine; it's a doctoral thesis that moves."
by Dumuabzu January 29, 2026
Get the Physics Harnessing mug.A more nuanced version of materialism's problem. Physicalism claims everything is physical or supervenes on the physical. The hard problem is defining "the physical" without circularity. Physics describes the behavior of matter, but doesn't define its essence. Furthermore, if physics is just our best current model, then physicalism becomes the claim "everything is whatever our current physics says it is," which is both provisional and strangely empty. It's materialism with a philosophy degree, but still struggling.
*Example: "She's a physicalist but admits physics doesn't have a clue about consciousness. The hard problem of physicalism: she believes consciousness is 100% physical, but 'the physical' is an ever-changing list of quarks, fields, and maybe strings. She's betting on a mystery being solved by a moving target."*
by Abzugal January 30, 2026
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