303 | AMA | February 2025

12538.704 - 12563.111 Sean Carroll

Changing the coordinates and leaving the underlying system invariant is one way of saying it, but then keeping the coordinates and moving the system is another way of saying it. That kind of sounds more impressive. But... In my mind, diffeomorphism invariance is a real thing, but it's a real thing that is a label that gets attached to descriptions of theories, not to theories.