tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post6714132142340373054..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: Blogging Heads: Woit and HossenfelderSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-218062405958385662008-08-04T15:52:00.000-04:002008-08-04T15:52:00.000-04:00Hi Giotis,? I didn't say they don't interact. I me...Hi Giotis,<BR/><BR/>? I didn't say they don't interact. I meant to say I can't see no convergence despite that interaction - sorry if that didn't come out too clearly. The point I was trying to make is that a community can also be too nice. Besides this, it's only a very small percentage of people in the field working at PI, and PI isn't exactly the average institution anyway. Best,<BR/><BR/>B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-37750118866764224502008-08-04T15:43:00.000-04:002008-08-04T15:43:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,It comes as a surprise to me to hear that t...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>It comes as a surprise to me to hear that there is no interaction between the different groups; especially for PI which has been founded with the vision to bring brilliant physicists to work together in order to answer some of the fundamental questions about nature. <BR/><BR/>BR/GiotisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-3995849634688258492008-08-04T14:43:00.000-04:002008-08-04T14:43:00.000-04:00Hi Giotis,I have no clue, honestly. I find it funn...Hi Giotis,<BR/><BR/>I have no clue, honestly. I find it funny however that 'quantum gravity' is often used as meaning 'quantum gravity except string theory'. As far as I am concerned introducing groups at PI was a mistake to begin with (I'm trying to convince them to replace the grouping with a tag-cloud of researchers interests...) but just by looking at the website you'll find 'quantum gravity'Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-2000751241517818222008-08-04T14:26:00.000-04:002008-08-04T14:26:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,Also it should be noted here that there are...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>Also it should be noted here that there are people from the LQG camp that work on both fields i.e. LQG and Strings. LQG supporters at least don't exclude necessarily Strings from their research as far as i know; my impression is that it is the other way around.<BR/><BR/>Lee Smolin among others for example is/was working on a background independent M-theory. Also there is/was Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-30958089521207678002008-08-03T14:03:00.000-04:002008-08-03T14:03:00.000-04:00Hi Nige,I am sorry to hear about your bad experien...Hi Nige,<BR/><BR/>I am sorry to hear about your bad experiences with CQG. I've made very good experiences with them. In fact, it's my favourite journal. Their referee process is fast and reliably meaningful. In the one case where it wasn't the problem was resolved quickly by the editorial board. (Similar problems I've had eg with PLB or PRD resulted in an editor's reply saying essentially "the Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-78395257509484649062008-08-03T13:59:00.000-04:002008-08-03T13:59:00.000-04:00Hi Nige Basically what you are describing here is ...Hi Nige <BR/><BR/>Basically what you are describing here is a scenery from the dark ages with the string theorists in the place of the Catholic church. I know that string theorists have key positions in the establishment but i can't believe (or accept) that things are that bad. I think you are exaggerating. <BR/><BR/>RegardsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-89649662006472968152008-08-03T12:27:00.000-04:002008-08-03T12:27:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,Thanks for your kind response."For one ... ...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your kind response.<BR/><BR/>"For one ... string theorists have after all the same goals as all other physicists that is understanding."<BR/><BR/>I fear that you may be too optimistic here. If that assumption were really correct, then there wouldn't be any problem at all. It simply isn't. The string theorists do share a goal of understanding speculations and belief nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03402194253543690982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-57673176202490190502008-08-03T11:23:00.000-04:002008-08-03T11:23:00.000-04:00Hi Nige,Thanks for your interesting comment. I thi...Hi Nige,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your interesting comment. I think however your analogy to warfare is not very adequate. For one this is because string theorists have after all the same goals as all other physicists that is understanding. This is not a question of one being the winner and the other being the loser, it's a problem of balance.<BR/><BR/>If you want to stick with your warfare analogy, Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-30183403929610532832008-08-03T10:44:00.000-04:002008-08-03T10:44:00.000-04:00Thanks for posting this discussion. RE: the discus...Thanks for posting this discussion. RE: the discussion of how to get around the problems of string promotion, e.g. could string theory have been opposed in a less public way?<BR/><BR/>I read pacifist history and in virtually every major war in history, the pacifists (both at the time and afterwards) claimed that if one side had tried a bit harder to explain their case in private to the other sidenigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03402194253543690982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-25358792862134135632008-08-02T05:24:00.000-04:002008-08-02T05:24:00.000-04:00Meritocrat,Interesting to hear your perspective on...Meritocrat,<BR/>Interesting to hear your perspective on this; however, it is not entirely compatible with what I’ve seen and heard elsewhere. <BR/>One of my postdocs was in a maths dept, which is where my impression of the maths situation comes from. I shared an office with a more senior pure maths postdoc who used to tell me about it in gory detail. He was quite a cynical type, and not someone Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51100589247381183392008-08-01T15:47:00.000-04:002008-08-01T15:47:00.000-04:00Christine: *now* I understand why people go to all...<I>Christine: *now* I understand why people go to all the trouble of lugging a laptop all over the world! :-)</I><BR/><BR/>Yeah, but actually you only need to take with you a nice book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-4410049112496821132008-08-01T12:06:00.000-04:002008-08-01T12:06:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-19125893671376766202008-08-01T11:52:00.000-04:002008-08-01T11:52:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-18354528453628236372008-08-01T08:16:00.000-04:002008-08-01T08:16:00.000-04:00Amused: I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you...Amused: I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but I am in a mathematics department and I can assure you that things are just as bad here. Surely you don't think that the bigshots in math would look at the way senior physicists rule their slaves and not find a way of replicating it? The only difference is that the system has been going on over here for much longer and is more entrenched. YouAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-68737002491729534902008-08-01T04:33:00.000-04:002008-08-01T04:33:00.000-04:00About assessment of researchers:(Sorry in advance ...About assessment of researchers:<BR/>(Sorry in advance that this comment became so long)<BR/><BR/>While evaluation of people based on publication and citation numbers etc is not so good, I think the suggestion to instead evaluate them by simply reading their papers is problematic as well if it involves someone being assessed by others who are outside their area of expertise (as would typically beAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-55758212927993898302008-08-01T04:15:00.000-04:002008-08-01T04:15:00.000-04:00Bee, I hope you will write that novel one day when...Bee, I hope you will write that novel one day when you have the chance. Someone should write a novel about all this stuff, and make a movie too!<BR/><BR/>I also agree about the limited usefulness of publication and citation numbers. When Lighthouse keeper and I have mentioned such numbers in previous comments it is not because we attach importance to them but because the system professes to Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-81039967318265641752008-07-31T22:21:00.000-04:002008-07-31T22:21:00.000-04:00I absolutely agree with Bee about papers and citat...I absolutely agree with Bee about papers and citations. Apart from the effects on my career, I honestly don't care whether my papers get cited --- I'm a lighthouse keeper after all. And to be honest, the fact that one of my papers has been cited over 130 times is a complete mystery to me. The point I wanted to make is the same one made more clearly by Amused: these things become important when Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-20659999723017043212008-07-31T19:35:00.000-04:002008-07-31T19:35:00.000-04:00I love the coffee-break description above. I am of...I love the coffee-break description above. <BR/><BR/>I am of the type that at coffee-break takes a cup of coffee and a biscuit, exchange a brief 'hi' to a few people that I eventually know and quickly return to my sit, where I open my notebook or some other thing to read, until next talk. Usually, I find myself complete alone in such situations. It is a great strategy of mine.<BR/><BR/>ConcerningAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-28054931907369450032008-07-31T11:50:00.000-04:002008-07-31T11:50:00.000-04:00Hi Lighthouse Keeper, Hi Amused,It is quite ironic...Hi Lighthouse Keeper, Hi Amused,<BR/><BR/>It is quite ironic but a pre-version of this blog was indeed the begin of a novel containing exactly that sort of nonsensical academic dance. It was titled 'The Black Hole Bomb,' but at some point I had to realize there are indeed people who believe in black hole bombs. (Also, it became to auto-biographic so I decided to instead just write a blog about mySabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88091993828853236932008-07-31T10:09:00.000-04:002008-07-31T10:09:00.000-04:00Lighthouse keeper,Thanks, and good luck to you too...Lighthouse keeper,<BR/>Thanks, and good luck to you too. It is certainly galling to see less accomplished people get better jobs or promotions ahead of oneself, so I can understand your reaction to that. Personally I’m not sure if I have grounds to be bitter though, since if everything had been done entirely according to merit it is quite possible that my situation would be no different from whatAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-78289973973204777212008-07-30T21:31:00.000-04:002008-07-30T21:31:00.000-04:00Dear Amused,I did say that I am well aware that I'...Dear Amused,<BR/>I did say that I am well aware that I'm lucky. Still you might be surprised how demoralizing it is to see assorted nitwits being promoted over your head precisely because they were [as you put it] "blessed". I have been in this great institution for 25 years and I'm still an associate prof. In short: I have good reason to be bitter, but there are plenty of other people out there Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-41628269177033824632008-07-30T20:14:00.000-04:002008-07-30T20:14:00.000-04:00Bee doesn't appear she's used to being in front of...Bee doesn't appear she's used to being in front of an audience, cos she does this weird eye movement and body motion. Plus, especially in this day, you need a higher bandwidth camera.<BR/><BR/>Peter's decent, but stutters or/and speaks a little fast at times.bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12243108422389386105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-82398053681788388282008-07-30T16:34:00.000-04:002008-07-30T16:34:00.000-04:00Bee, yes, that is something I also like about the ...Bee, yes, that is something I also like about the smoking crowd: the implicit understanding that talking too much is not a good thing. It distracts from the important business at hand ;-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-20199883411702199062008-07-30T16:06:00.000-04:002008-07-30T16:06:00.000-04:00Hi Amused,Funny you mention that. I often hang out...Hi Amused,<BR/>Funny you mention that. I often hang out with the smokers outside even though I don't smoke because I feel more comfortable there. Probably because they talk less than the manic coffee drinkers ;-) Best,<BR/><BR/>B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-61703884080607138462008-07-30T15:39:00.000-04:002008-07-30T15:39:00.000-04:00"I can relate very well to what you say, your coff..."I can relate very well to what you say, your coffee break description matches my experiences precisely."<BR/><BR/>Yes, me too! In the past I dealt with that by going outside for a secluded smoke or two, but having recently quit that I'm not sure what I will do next time I find myself in the conference situation. I'm toying with the idea of using it as an opportunity to corrupt the youth, by Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com