this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025
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Energy in physics feels analogous to money in economics. Is a manmade medium of exchange used for convenience. It is the exchange medium between measureable physical states/things.

Is energy is real in the same way money is? An incredibly useful accounting trick that is used so frequently it feels fundamental, but really it's just a mathmatical convenience?

Small aside: From this perspective 'conservatipn of energy' is a redundant statement. Of course energy must be conserved or else the equations are wrong. The definition of energy is it's conservation.

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[–] athairmor 30 points 1 day ago

You can say that about all of math and science. It’s all language to describe observations of the universe.

What else are you going to do?

Small aside: From this perspective 'conservatipn of energy' is a redundant statement. Of course energy must be conserved or else the equations are wrong. The definition of energy is it's conservation.

That’s circular reasoning on your part. “The definition of energy is its conservation” is false so that’s not redundant. Don’t know where you got that from.