tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post5392329404567862446..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: What's the purpose of working in the foundations of physics?Sabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-38117853116703753692018-07-20T14:19:23.816-04:002018-07-20T14:19:23.816-04:00In my opinion nature as a whole is the true (relat...In my opinion nature as a whole is the true (relational) fundament of physics. The rest of our knowledge of physics is incomplete abstract knowledge.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05189203168416247496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-23580280112728086402018-07-16T10:39:13.655-04:002018-07-16T10:39:13.655-04:00Both good papers Wes Hanson, thanksBoth good papers Wes Hanson, thanksMatthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03016608637645316849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88397183653732435942018-07-15T16:54:48.107-04:002018-07-15T16:54:48.107-04:00Roy Wagner has some nice critiques (constructive) ...<a href="http://www2.mta.ac.il/~rwagner/publications.html" rel="nofollow">Roy Wagner</a> has some nice critiques (constructive) of the Lakoff/Nunez work:<br /><br /><a href="http://www2.mta.ac.il/~rwagner/publications/mathematical%20metaphors.pdf" rel="nofollow">A historically and philosophically informed approach to mathematical metaphors</a>;<br /><br /><a href="http://www2.mta.ac.il/~rwagner/PonderSeekDiscoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00913503952284529871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-83360752682281722192018-07-15T07:16:18.908-04:002018-07-15T07:16:18.908-04:00Unknown wrote,
"Years ago, I was teaching un...Unknown wrote,<br /><br />"Years ago, I was teaching undergratuate "Stars and the Universe," and in the first lecture I was flummoxed when a student asked "why do we care about what's out there in the universe - it doesn't matter to us, does it?'"<br /><br />For much of my life, I too would have been flummoxed by that remark, but now that we have the David Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06172248428321078417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-53871125005944288142018-07-15T04:39:27.499-04:002018-07-15T04:39:27.499-04:00"why do we care about what's out there in..."why do we care about what's out there in the universe - it doesn't matter to us, does it?"<br /><br />That is not limited to physics. An American linguist once told me she had the same question asked about languages. As every human speaks, or should speak, English, learning about foreign languages was a waste of time. <br /><br />Physicists should not feel guilty. It is not Rob van Son (Not a physicist, just an amateur)https://www.blogger.com/profile/12611755507524401026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-52538103560619244692018-07-14T11:26:06.069-04:002018-07-14T11:26:06.069-04:00Years ago, I was teaching undergratuate "Star...Years ago, I was teaching undergratuate "Stars and the Universe," and in the first lecture I was flummoxed when a student asked "why do we care about what's out there in the universe - it doesn't matter to us, does it?'Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08363770435343791235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-92204872203482978712018-07-14T06:11:21.192-04:002018-07-14T06:11:21.192-04:00Dear Dirk,
If physicists believe that basic physi...Dear Dirk,<br /><br /><i>If physicists believe that basic physical equations preceded physical phenomena, or that reality is made up of mathematical formulas, they make an analog mistake like Plato, who derived reality from concepts rather than concepts from reality.</i><br /><br />Succint, and to the point. Expressed less succinctly:<br /><br />Seems to me that all scientists could profit from Bhupinder Singh Anandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13505076032940030790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-40560351114586069552018-07-14T03:50:29.269-04:002018-07-14T03:50:29.269-04:00Hi Sabine,
you write: "In contrast to most p...Hi Sabine,<br /><br />you write: "In contrast to most people who work in the field – and probably most of you – I do not think that whatever new we will discover in the foundations will remain pure knowledge, detached from technology."<br /><br />At last!.. Thanks. I agree with this statement, and I believe the next leap is as big as going from Newton to QM. <br /><br />But I guess manyakidbellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12292741599925116131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-48618136948048814852018-07-13T20:26:31.984-04:002018-07-13T20:26:31.984-04:00Feynman wrote about spending hours watching ants a...Feynman wrote about spending hours watching ants and performing little experiments by disrupting their linear paths. Others have noted that this experience likely influenced him in developing his path integral formulation. Perhaps you never know when innate curiosity will be rewarded. What's to be done about it in any case?Don Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04814669413022486958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51974625145494460362018-07-13T06:57:55.846-04:002018-07-13T06:57:55.846-04:00…My first reaction to this is always: What’s the p...…My first reaction to this is always: What’s the purpose of anything anyway?<br />Why do only scientists get this question?...<br /><br /><br />Theories are developed by their authors with regard to already known or suspected phenomena. That these phenomena can then be derived from the theories, although not always very convincing, is not very surprising.<br />Theoretical models always lag behindDirk Freylinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15330626465475439718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-63783963309340309972018-07-12T20:22:26.243-04:002018-07-12T20:22:26.243-04:00Faraday and what use is a baby:
https://www.jstor....Faraday and what use is a baby:<br />https://www.jstor.org/stable/986790?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contentsArunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03451666670728177970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-41890874779351695772018-07-12T18:08:43.957-04:002018-07-12T18:08:43.957-04:00From the beginning of a 1977 book review on Donald...From the beginning of a 1977 book review on Donald Monk's book <i>Mathematical Logic.</i><br /><br />"On the banks of the Rhine a beautiful castle had been standing for centuries. In the cellar of the castle an intricate network of webbing had been constructed by the industrious spiders who lived there. One day a great wind sprang up and destroyed the webs. Frantically the spiders workedPeter Shorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13823970640202949073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51838948176637385782018-07-12T16:44:05.082-04:002018-07-12T16:44:05.082-04:00"The reason is that I believe we are missing ..."The reason is that I believe we are missing something big about the way that quantum theory cooperates with space and time."<br /><br />My proposition :<br /><br />Get rid of infinities in every corner of a new theory, along with any and all infinitesimal calculus.<br /><br />Unify the propagation of light with a discrete gravitational field.<br /><br />Hypothesize on how relativistic Koenraad Van Spaendonckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090279727324831109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-10340048984167584482018-07-12T10:26:28.832-04:002018-07-12T10:26:28.832-04:00@Philip and Sabine, my feeling is that we need to ...@Philip and Sabine, my feeling is that we need to quantize space and time and reinterpret the Lorentz transformations (SR) in a way that recognizes that space and time are in fact fundamentally different features of our universe. Whereas movement in space is fundamentally symmetric movement in time is fundamentally asymmetric. This requires sacrificing a sacred cow or two but it's very likelyTam Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05919461715412820636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-22843363253172307672018-07-12T09:08:38.033-04:002018-07-12T09:08:38.033-04:00The research in Quantum Gravity that Sabine, and o...The research in Quantum Gravity that Sabine, and others, are pursuing may someday have a major, practical impact on our civilization. Offhand one can imagine that the fruits of such intellectual labors might lead to a future technology allowing manipulation of space-time in a very substantial manner. That, in turn, could revolutionize the aerospace field, which currently is entirely based on David Schroederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18048116250413347228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-35056380409967493422018-07-12T08:30:50.677-04:002018-07-12T08:30:50.677-04:00I think that working on the foundations of physics...I think that working on the foundations of physics, the nuts and bolts so to speak, is a very good purpose of working in the foundations of physics.martenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423871089614417690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-57334366955607172322018-07-12T08:20:48.867-04:002018-07-12T08:20:48.867-04:00Sabine,
I think you have hit the mark with this p...Sabine,<br /><br />I think you have hit the mark with this post, because gadgets can be good or bad (e.g. nuclear weapons), but they all provide a reality check for scientific theory.<br /><br />I think it is striking how the gadget test suggests a problem going decades back. How many gadgets have emerged from quarks, or any of the particles with lifetimes shorter than (say) 10^(-20) secs. <br />David Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06172248428321078417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-82670798063582929792018-07-12T05:53:06.201-04:002018-07-12T05:53:06.201-04:00Nice piece. Intellectual curiosity, and satisfacti...Nice piece. Intellectual curiosity, and satisfaction of that curiosity, both personally and collectively, are fine motivations in themselves. Any "real world" application beyond that is icing on the cake but shouldn't be the raison d'etre of pure research. I think our modern societies are sophisticated enough to understand that and we have collectively agreed that pure curiosityTam Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05919461715412820636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-84907147049680922592018-07-12T05:52:45.355-04:002018-07-12T05:52:45.355-04:00Dr. Decay
“That's the same question. No?”
...<b>Dr. Decay</b><br /> <br />“<i>That's the same question. No?</i>”<br /> <br />Unlikely.<br /> <br />Visitors to your lab were probably curious about what you did, and why you did it, for broadening their own perspectives.<br /> <br />I doubt whether funding bodies and politicians share the same curiosity.<br /><br />Reminds me of the moment in 1985 when I was investigating the structure Bhupinder Singh Anandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13505076032940030790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-48840849774268816332018-07-12T02:42:55.065-04:002018-07-12T02:42:55.065-04:00Once again a pleasure to read, thanks.Once again a pleasure to read, thanks.John Fredstedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14392519442398073571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-27388384909083482722018-07-12T02:37:27.517-04:002018-07-12T02:37:27.517-04:00"The reason is that I believe we are missing ...<i>"The reason is that I believe we are missing something big about the way that quantum theory cooperates with space and time."</i><br /><br />What do you think is the most promising way forward? Loop quantum gravity? Something else?<br />Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-7986112324182514672018-07-12T00:41:33.668-04:002018-07-12T00:41:33.668-04:00Dear Sabine,
Appropriate; and very well expressed...Dear Sabine,<br /><br />Appropriate; and very well expressed.<br /><br />BhupBhupinder Singh Anandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13505076032940030790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-61367817155761277272018-07-11T22:37:29.424-04:002018-07-11T22:37:29.424-04:00What is the purpose of fundamental research in phy...What is the purpose of fundamental research in physics? Had our ancestors not done it, we would still be living in the Stone Age. The ancient Egyptians knew and used the six simple machines. They did not call it mechanics but they built the Great Pyramid with mechanics. All of engineering and technology are built from fundamental principles. A few crazy nerds discovered some fundamental Enricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11062542721973950650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-25095679673904977242018-07-11T17:10:32.419-04:002018-07-11T17:10:32.419-04:00With all due respect, folks in the field of the ph...With all due respect, folks in the field of the physical sciences who ask that question ought to choose a different field.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06585144284285934790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-87820336256243591452018-07-11T16:08:06.617-04:002018-07-11T16:08:06.617-04:00I think the importance of foundation ( a very good...I think the importance of foundation ( a very good one, nearing ontology) Should decide that there is either God or there isn't. And That should change Human brain thought process and his actions in dramatic way , basically changing human history.qsahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08193989424656595346noreply@blogger.com