[Phys-L] Natural laws from experimental data

[Antti Savinainen <antti.j.savinainen@gmail.com>]

Hi,

I suppose this is common knowledge in some circles, but I just found out
about this when preparing a lesson on technology, science & knowledge:
https://youtu.be/MSo6eeDsFlE

I find it astonishing that deep laws of physics (such as Hamiltonians)
could be found from data using symbolic regression algorithms, with no
predetermined physics laws. The paper was published in Science (2009).

It may be no surprise that the aforementioned premise has been challenged:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.7273

OTOH, the manuscript above was rejected by Science.

I wonder what is the best interpretation of the case.

Regards,

Antti Savinainen, PhD
Finland