In the computer world there is a term used to describe a project, intended to be accomplished in finite time, where the client keeps wanting new things added before the project is completed; called creeping-featureitis. When building a computer project, this is a bad thing.
In theoretical physics, since we know we do not know all of the rules of the game, this is the norm. We are always adding new things: ideas, theorems, examples, counterexamples, contradictions, etc.
It is not surprising that theorists have computer code that is ever expanding; that is how we think!
To that extent, all theorists engage in creeping-featuritis and it is the way it should be.
The same happens when writing a scientific paper. When data are being collected very regularly it's difficult to select a stopping point.
ReplyDeleteForrest M. Mims III
www.forrestmims.org