tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post7501273499811287928..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: Questioning the FoundationsSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-87803873623363770362012-10-16T15:49:24.643-04:002012-10-16T15:49:24.643-04:00Hi Bee, just found your blog. Very good stuff :-) ...Hi Bee, just found your blog. Very good stuff :-) Thought I'd leave a thought on this particular point --- Carlo Rovelli likes to motivate his work, by saying the opposite: that we do not have a single consistent theory of quantum gravity (he, being of an LQG bent, considers string theory to only approach but not reach that target). Thus, he feels the theoretical research to be justified, in Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02376760053977600605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-26665105400770475262012-09-12T04:47:02.881-04:002012-09-12T04:47:02.881-04:00"Einstein usually said that the Michelson-Mor...<i>"Einstein usually said that the Michelson-Morley did not play a role in the development of special relativity, but other observational evidence definitely did."</i><br /><br />This appears to be historically correct, but with an interesting twist. John Stachel (Astr. Nachr. 303 (1982) p.47-53) went through all published and unpublished texts by Einstein on SR up to the mid '20s, Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12843348520853108444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-81092043506843089682012-09-10T06:08:16.600-04:002012-09-10T06:08:16.600-04:00"Einstein was heavily guided by Michelson and..."Einstein was heavily guided by Michelson and Morley’s failure to detect the aether"<br /><br />I agree with Robert's first point here. Exactly what role the MME played is perhaps not 100% clear, but "heavily guided" is certainly wrong.<br /><br />Of course, to address a further point, various folks have questioned the constancy of G, Dirac for one. On needs to have a Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-54765103311062011302012-09-06T14:17:30.018-04:002012-09-06T14:17:30.018-04:00New theory adding dark matter terms to Einstein eq...New theory adding dark matter terms to Einstein equations: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120906092059.htmrickyjameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09303372085007768799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-69350442768430468552012-09-04T00:35:44.157-04:002012-09-04T00:35:44.157-04:00I like your idea of sacrificing mathematical elega...I like your idea of sacrificing mathematical elegance. A desire for an elegant proof was what stood in the way of proving the four color theorem. On the other hand, you probably should hold on to the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics or you'll put yourself out of business.<br />Kaleberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283840743310507878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-13926843032607236652012-09-03T12:18:32.423-04:002012-09-03T12:18:32.423-04:00/* ..Einstein and Dirac are not even good examples.../* ..Einstein and Dirac are not even good examples.. Their model didn’t make much sense. But it explained the data...*/<br /><br />It's entertaining to read about it just from convinced quantum gravitist..;-) But we should ask the principal question, why the mainstream physics converged into pair of essentially four-dimensional theories: the quantum mechanics and general relativity? Why just Zephirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06010623752049244967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-5776842332162480782012-09-03T12:03:48.443-04:002012-09-03T12:03:48.443-04:00/*Gravity can be neither classical nor quantized *.../*Gravity can be neither classical nor quantized */<br /><br />Regarding <a href="http://fqxi.org/data/essay-contest-files/Hossenfelder_fqxi_principle.pdf" rel="nofollow">your essay</a> the quantization of gravity may be achievable in sufficiently low number of dimensions, but this result many not be of practical importance anyway, because such low-dimensional constrains don't exist at the Zephirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06010623752049244967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-72980108563718886112012-09-03T11:50:08.504-04:002012-09-03T11:50:08.504-04:00/* Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wr.../* Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong... */<br /><br />It depends. The Universe is composed of random islands of causality, some of them support well the relativity, some of them support the quantum mechanics, some low-dimensional systems do support the simple compositions of both theories (Dirac, Young-Mills, AdS/CFT, Lie group) so they can serve as a model examples for textbooksZephirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06010623752049244967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51626747702585494302012-09-03T01:07:33.124-04:002012-09-03T01:07:33.124-04:00Hi Peter,
This earlier post will answer your ques...Hi Peter,<br /><br /><a href="http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-importance-of-phenomenology.html" rel="nofollow">This earlier post will answer your question.</a> Best,<br /><br />B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-84655708088637685122012-09-02T17:24:39.856-04:002012-09-02T17:24:39.856-04:00Yes, you are right about it being best not to get ...Yes, you are right about it being best not to get hung up on these things, just for ones own mental health. But it is true none the less that outstanding minds often have a hard time fitting in with the broader culture and the broader culture then turns it's back on them out of preservation of the status quo.<br /><br />I think the example of the wildest things coming from many main stream Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08213251864943443334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-17655818930630677602012-09-02T17:09:49.133-04:002012-09-02T17:09:49.133-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08213251864943443334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-3087463399316893792012-09-02T14:17:23.456-04:002012-09-02T14:17:23.456-04:00Best not to get hung up on that too much, Eric. We...Best not to get hung up on that too much, Eric. We do what we do, we let other people do what they do, take it or leave it. We persist in realizing our mistakes and inventing new.<br /><br />There is <i>some</i> crossover of ideas into "real" academic Physics, typically when there is a mathematics-like clarity to something new, less often when an idea is vague enough that one can't Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08654675777726560464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-58876569424359026082012-09-02T13:53:03.398-04:002012-09-02T13:53:03.398-04:00Can you place a chair, for me, beside the twins. I...Can you place a chair, for me, beside the twins. I want to listen to how this evolves.<br />:-)<br /><br />“... These difficulties can be circumvented by changing the quantization condition ...”<br /><br />I’m sure that you will find other coworkers to explore this and other ideas.<br />....<br />Quark Matter 2012<br />http://qm2012.bnl.gov/sessionRecordings.asp<br />....<br />“... To understand jalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16969819389823705458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-1640607217240893192012-09-02T13:11:32.766-04:002012-09-02T13:11:32.766-04:00It would be interesting to know if the people judg...It would be interesting to know if the people judging the essays at FQXI know the names and qualifications of the people writing the essays or if they are blocked out. I'd be willing to bet large sums of money (if I had it) that there is significant prejudice in the final judging if they don't block that information. No one today would want to award first place to some nobody, say a Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08213251864943443334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-87286549940497973082012-09-02T12:05:18.488-04:002012-09-02T12:05:18.488-04:00Bee, what is Phenomenology? Are some phenomenologi...Bee, what is Phenomenology? Are some phenomenological models better than others? Some areas of Physics seem full of relatively bad models.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08654675777726560464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-43010315251140014512012-09-02T06:41:48.500-04:002012-09-02T06:41:48.500-04:00Hi Giotis,
No, that's actually not what I am ...Hi Giotis,<br /><br />No, that's actually not what I am mean. I think it is taken note of, and often used as an alibi, not always quite appropriately. What I am saying is that there are not enough people working on the phenomenology. Best,<br /><br />B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-32406402948203337762012-09-02T06:38:28.449-04:002012-09-02T06:38:28.449-04:00You mean that yours and others well motivated phen...You mean that yours and others well motivated phenomenological/theoretical work is ignored by your peers just because you don't belong to some dominant circles in your community or because it does not comply with the dominant way of thinking? If such thing is happening is bad of course but I'm an outsider and I don't have a clear picture about it.Giotishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03594944884584261018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-55651295935798364102012-09-02T06:08:26.882-04:002012-09-02T06:08:26.882-04:00I did notice your sentence. I'm not sure thoug...I did notice your sentence. I'm not sure though why you think the same doesn't apply to string theory. And, sure, I am publishing my little models and I'm working on it and the response I get is usually of the type "interesting idea" but "very speculative". Though I, ironically, find myself to be too conservative. But then everything is relative. Best,<br /><br />B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-83966542349253694892012-09-02T06:02:43.620-04:002012-09-02T06:02:43.620-04:00Didn't you notice my last sentence:
"Qua...Didn't you notice my last sentence:<br /><br />"Quantum gravity is a different kind of beast of course but lacking experimental guidance I think following the same successful road is the most promising way for progress"<br /><br />We don't have experimental guidance for QG. The energy regime is too high. It's not like that we have evidence that people ignore. We just don&#Giotishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03594944884584261018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-14932535784651408802012-09-02T05:23:51.116-04:002012-09-02T05:23:51.116-04:00Hi Giotis,
What I am trying to say is basically t...Hi Giotis,<br /><br />What I am trying to say is basically that there will be no progress without experimental guidance. You're doing a good job representing exactly the line of thought that I have argued is hindering progress. Yes, susy, string theory and also loop quantization and so on are the natural heirs of this line of thought. But all that thinking isn't sufficient to arrive at Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-48596571637181881162012-09-02T05:12:00.937-04:002012-09-02T05:12:00.937-04:00I'm not saying that SUSY is a sure thing or th...I'm not saying that SUSY is a sure thing or that M-theory follows from the Standard Model and I agree with Eric that we must be careful and have an open mind. I'm just saying that there is a line of thought here a way of working and generalizing in the particle physics that has been proven very fruitful so far. The main component of this line of thought is mathematical and theoretical Giotishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03594944884584261018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-34876090221929322372012-09-02T04:49:08.383-04:002012-09-02T04:49:08.383-04:00$10,000 might answer some of your questions... It ...$10,000 might answer some of your questions... It must be difficult for the FQXi folks to find a balance between open-mindedness and scientific quality. At least during the last years I had the impression that they try to err on the side of open-mindedness for the submissions, so the real question isn't what's submitted but how the submissions are ranked. Best,<br /><br />B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-33790045308545648492012-09-02T04:39:13.661-04:002012-09-02T04:39:13.661-04:00What strikes me when glancing through the FQXI ess...What strikes me when glancing through the FQXI essays, is the mixture of antipathy against modern research (derided in all sorts of ways), with blatand crackpottery of the grossest sort. It's the kind of things where you don't know whether it's a parody, or seriously meant. <br /><br />Unfortunately, while "thought provoking questioning foundations" sounds cool it is in Red Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10907011209477484918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-201322598873883132012-09-02T01:39:43.480-04:002012-09-02T01:39:43.480-04:00Hi Giotis,
Well, before you could conclude there ...Hi Giotis,<br /><br />Well, before you could conclude there was a Higgs you had to find the electroweak interaction, W and Z and so on. I wouldn't count these findings as theoretical work. Instead, it's exactly what I mean: there's phenomenology, there's an update of the theory, there's conclusions drawn from that, a prediction, a test, an update of the theory, and so on. Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88347714771358290912012-09-02T01:34:20.855-04:002012-09-02T01:34:20.855-04:00Hi Phil,
Regarding your Bohm quote that speaks ab...Hi Phil,<br /><br />Regarding your Bohm quote that speaks about avoiding those unpleasant results and so on. There's something psychologists call <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coherence_(cognitive_science)" rel="nofollow">cognitive coherence</a>, basically the attempt of making sense of information. If there's information that doesn't seem to fit, the brain has a tendency to Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.com