On: Maps Of Matter

[Koshkin]

> belief (the atomistic view of physics) fell apart

What is this, then?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-highest-r...

[beaconstudios → Koshkin]

it's not that atoms don't exist, it's that atoms are the smallest part of reality - that they are indivisible. That's what atomism is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomism

[Koshkin → beaconstudios]

Actually, atoms may well be the smallest parts of reality that we can ever "see." Structureless particles such as electrons are "points" which, due to their infinitely small size, makes them impossible to see even in principle. (Incidentally, this is exactly makes them true "atoms," i.e. indivisible, and they are always created and destroyed as a whole.)