"Patrick Reany" wrote in message om...

The purpose of physics is to find the smallest set of
rules by which the behavior of the inanimate material
realm under natural conditions can be completely described.

In principle I agree with you but 'smallest set' is not
easy to define. In any case I prefer 'best set' even
though that is no easier. There are many things that
make a theory a good one, not all of them easy to
measure.

The purpose of physics is NOT to discover deep reality,

Or even to assert that there is such a thing.

but
rather to invent such models and principles which are
instrumental to building a theory that works, i.e., a theory
that has good agreement between predictions and experiment.

That is certainly an essential feature of a good theory.

Martin Hogbin.