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migueltrout t1_jbztpck wrote

It absolutely boggles my mind that we as human beings have discovered this knowledge.

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Emu1981 t1_jc0imbi wrote

>It absolutely boggles my mind that we as human beings have discovered this knowledge.

What is even more mind boggling is that we could be completely wrong about it all and not even know it - the old story about the blind men describing a elephant by touch comes to mind. We cannot "see" quarks but rather we can only see how they effect the physical world (e.g. via destroying matter in a particle accelerator).
We then infer what they are and build models to describe what we see. All it would take is a discovery that changes our understanding of one little part to completely upend the model.

*edit* bleh, no idea why Reddit insists that there should be a line break in there.

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ontopofyourmom t1_jc0ky76 wrote

We could be, but this is part of the most accurate and best-proven scientific theory in existence.

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