Re: Magnetic monopoles

[David Dockstader <DRDOCK00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>]

On Sun, 24 Nov 1996 17:17:31 -0800 Leigh Palmer said:
> This problem was solved completely in 1905 ...
> Why would anyone need more than that?

First, I don't think there has ever been a problem that was solved completely.
There seems to always be something new to discover in every field.  In fact,
I think this is an important point to make to our students.  What we know and
what we teach is not THE TRUTH.  It is just our feeble effort to make models
that more or less mimic the behavior of the real world.  The best we can claim
for any of them is that they work well enough to be useful, perhaps very
useful, and the one thing that we can guarantee about all of them is that
eventually more accurate models will be developed.

Second, we don't need any of this.  We just do it because it is fun and we are
curious.  The only question in my mind is if a particular effort  offers
sufficient expectation of bearing good fruit to justify the expenditure of
public funds.