tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post8038262843960831564..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: The Overproduction Crisis in Physics and Why You Should Care About ItSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-45116303910730023082018-06-28T14:35:59.274-04:002018-06-28T14:35:59.274-04:00Interesting points, Ian; but who is ever going to ...Interesting points, Ian; but who is ever going to admit to having less-than-honorable aims? <br /><br />I wonder how many in physics now started at a time when it was still relatively easy and wide-open. It was cool and interesting. Now things are harder and less certain; and some might be in over their heads. But they still need to put food on the table.<br /><br />Maybe they should switch focussean s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04190153587965701495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-67005766492712800742018-06-28T00:56:54.026-04:002018-06-28T00:56:54.026-04:00In response to Mark Martens, as an outsider myself...In response to Mark Martens, as an outsider myself I think the issue reduces to what the academic's aims are? Do they want to seek the truth? Do they want to defend their current position? Do they want to avoid wasting time with outsiders, because there are unfortunately a large number who really have not gone sufficiently deeply into the topic, and by that I do not mean accepting current Ian Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17252375814985734176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-37875628049012573352018-06-27T22:36:20.294-04:002018-06-27T22:36:20.294-04:00In spite of the self-recriminating I (occaisionall...In spite of the self-recriminating I (occaisionally) hear from academic insiders, I see no indications that they are actually engaged in listening to, let alone actually considering, new ideas from outsiders. Yet this is where scientific discoveries come from historically, isn't it?<br /><br />What if more funding for new research isn't even needed. Isn't it likely that the 'real Mark Martenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16071450518363119462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-2752634832013195312018-06-27T07:22:15.301-04:002018-06-27T07:22:15.301-04:00I think "groupthink" is a misleading wor...I think "groupthink" is a misleading word for this. There is a quite natural process that if people inside a group discuss a lot with each other, they tend to find agreement with each other about many points, mostly about those they don't really argue about so that they tend to accept them uncritically. This is what one could name "groupthink". This is unavoidable. <br /><Ilja Schmelzerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05344206562643658764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-33648692695001483842018-05-29T12:49:21.329-04:002018-05-29T12:49:21.329-04:00JR;
Whether or not a reference (like B’s) trivial...JR;<br /><br />Whether or not a reference (like B’s) <i>trivializes the Holocaust or not</i> is entirely subjective. You are entitled to think it does; I am not so sure myself. <br /><br />Of course, there was more to the Holocaust than groupthink (“<i>peer-group-pressure</i>”), but there’s always more than just groupthink. However, groupthink is what turns a bad idea into a cult or a horror.<br sean s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04190153587965701495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-71116783222791735402018-05-29T10:24:41.503-04:002018-05-29T10:24:41.503-04:00And the barriers to getting anything like these di...<i>And the barriers to getting anything like these discoveries published, even in MNRAS, are very high, unless you have “an institutional affiliation”."</i><br /><br />Not sure what you mean here. While some journals do require an institutional affiliation, <i>MNRAS</i> does not. And what is "<i><b>even</b></i> in MNRAS"? <i>MNRAS</i> is one of the half dozen or so leading Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-37598279529494514962018-05-29T09:44:22.618-04:002018-05-29T09:44:22.618-04:00Quotation:
Read all about the overproduction crisi...Quotation:<br /><i>Read all about the overproduction crisis in the foundations of physics and what you – yes you! – can do to help .....</i><br />Does <i>"what you can do - yes you" </i> also apply for normal people or just for scientists ?<br /><br />kind regards,<br />Hubert R Hubert Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09874217912708724986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51805382958477412662018-05-29T07:25:01.585-04:002018-05-29T07:25:01.585-04:00"The monstrosity of the holocaust is such tha...<i>"The monstrosity of the holocaust is such that picking out a detail from it to make a point about scientific publishing is inappropriate, because it appears to trivialise the crime."</i><br /><br />Groupthink did play a role in the Holocaust. (Most serious historians see the ultimate cause in the Treaty of Versailles, which was much too hard on Germany (which lost the war, but didn&Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-52534047031409406682018-05-29T07:21:33.229-04:002018-05-29T07:21:33.229-04:00"You say Beller's article criticizing mem...<i>"You say Beller's article criticizing members of the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics misses the point, where Alan Sokal does not. So, metaphysical nonsense claiming that quantum-mechanical complementarity should be the basis of everything, including the social sciences, is OK as long as it comes from respected physicists?"</i><br /><br />No, bullshit is bullshit, no matterPhillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-10522877261128283902018-05-27T06:03:59.832-04:002018-05-27T06:03:59.832-04:00“Sabine Hossenfelder said...
Tam,
What you write ...“Sabine Hossenfelder said...<br />Tam,<br /><br />What you write is also my knowledge. The biggest part of the population did at least not officially know about the 'final solution'. But you can't kill hundred-thousands of people without a large number of aids on your side. Best,<br /><br />B.<br />11:49 PM, May 18, 2018”<br /><br />How sadly true. Precisely analogous to the abortion APEppinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13169743106191038924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-26939493280341228102018-05-26T19:53:31.913-04:002018-05-26T19:53:31.913-04:00Philip Helbig,
I didn't mean anything fancy b...Philip Helbig,<br /><br />I didn't mean anything fancy by "familiar with the artistic process." Just some genuine acquaintance with the sorts of things the artist had to do to create that painting your child could have done.<br /><br />Of course, like everybody else, I know which art I like and imagine that it means something. But from hanging out with an amazingly talented artistKris Kroghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07340827856086381459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-23316993261808810092018-05-26T12:33:03.828-04:002018-05-26T12:33:03.828-04:00String theory says what?String theory says what?ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04215462575412546235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-50497214743348052652018-05-25T08:48:32.162-04:002018-05-25T08:48:32.162-04:00The latest blog entry also illustrates how an insi...The latest blog entry also illustrates how an insightful theorist and critic of the mainstream can display a very serious lack of judgement. Comparing scientific peer-group-pressure-induced bias with the holocaust is a mistake of, at best, extreme political and historic naivity. I assume you will argue that your point is technically correct. To me it seems simplistic and I suspect historians and JRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03650963459949718627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-73758406733594689962018-05-24T16:31:10.873-04:002018-05-24T16:31:10.873-04:00Space Time;
“If the maths is trival then it isn&#...Space Time;<br /><br />“<i>If the maths is trival then it isn't worth publishing, it doesn't say anything about the case when the maths is not trival. It might be worth publishing or it might not be.</i>”<br /><br />This leaves only two options:<br /><br />1. you ARE saying that “<i>the more difficult the maths the better the physics</i>” (which you have denied), or<br />2. your comment sean s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04190153587965701495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-21366120905462957032018-05-24T11:25:38.839-04:002018-05-24T11:25:38.839-04:00Something missing: independent discoveries, especi...Something missing: independent discoveries, especially in observational astronomy.<br /><br />They can be made by anyone with the right equipment, which may be nothIng more than a PC, a good internet connection, and some free software. The online astronomy datasets include many excellent surveys, many of which have not been well “mined” for outliers and “something odds”. And that’s not counting JeanTatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08737430572613792118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-69524512678471769472018-05-24T10:40:12.550-04:002018-05-24T10:40:12.550-04:00sean s.
I am not sure what was unclear. If the ma...sean s.<br /><br />I am not sure what was unclear. If the maths is trival then it isn't worth publishing, it doesn't say anything about the case when the maths is not trival. It might be worth publishing or it might not be. <br /><br />You also misunderstood what I wrote about grad students. I said if any grad student can do it then it is not worth writing it up. I also said that there Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098439870046873701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-47075199447416611492018-05-24T09:41:28.644-04:002018-05-24T09:41:28.644-04:00Space Time;
“I didn't say that the more diffi...Space Time;<br /><br />“<i>I didn't say that the more difficult the maths the better the physics. I said something logically independent, namely that if the maths is trivail and a grad student can easily do it then it is not worth publishing.</i>”<br /><br />That seems contradictory, unless you think there is “good physics” not worth publishing. <br /><br />If the difficulty of the math is sean s.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04190153587965701495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-4836899005464813192018-05-24T04:53:34.229-04:002018-05-24T04:53:34.229-04:00"My child could have done that," is hard...<i>"My child could have done that," is hardly an original criticism for a piece of museum art. Does someone who needs to parrot that expression strike you as a creative, original thinker familiar with the artistic process?</i><br /><br />Saying someone is "parroting" something just because he agrees with someone else or uses an expression someone has used before is not a validPhillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-19673668113937996702018-05-24T03:25:43.969-04:002018-05-24T03:25:43.969-04:00Lawrence,
Your example doesn't change my opi...Lawrence, <br /><br />Your example doesn't change my opinion. Einstein's work was not elementary to do. It may be easy to learn, but if you pose the problem to grad students who are completely unfamiliar wit relativity they will not be able to solve it. At least not all, not even most. My opinion is still the same if a grad student can easily do it himself (not just follow, but actually Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098439870046873701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-14421876972923636282018-05-23T17:45:32.210-04:002018-05-23T17:45:32.210-04:00Phillip Helbig,
"My child could have done th...Phillip Helbig,<br /><br />"My child could have done that," is hardly an original criticism for a piece of museum art. Does someone who needs to parrot that expression strike you as a creative, original thinker familiar with the artistic process?<br /><br />For a different take on the Sokal affair, see Mara Beller's "The Sokal Hoax: At Whom are We Laughing?"<br /><br />Kris Kroghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07340827856086381459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-53579890933633789942018-05-23T15:42:32.536-04:002018-05-23T15:42:32.536-04:00I can think of one big example of where Space Time...I can think of one big example of where Space Time is wrong. In the early 20th century the work of Poincare and others was very mathematically advanced. Einstein published his paper on special relativity in 1905 that employed rather basic if not outright elementary mathematics.Lawrence Crowellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12090839464038445335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-70337098681369557772018-05-23T15:36:21.622-04:002018-05-23T15:36:21.622-04:00Paul Hayes says, "Despite this, there is what...Paul Hayes says, "Despite this, there is what Ray Streater called a "quantum paradox community", lost in [stupid misinterpretations of] the math, diligently churning out probably useless and certainly mindless dross on an industrial scale." And the "churning out" link leads to a wonderful article in SciAm about a goddamn EXPERIMENT! How fucking ironic on this PonderSeekDiscoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00913503952284529871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-25709254435891300752018-05-23T13:10:38.993-04:002018-05-23T13:10:38.993-04:00dear Space Time,
no need to apologize. it seemed t...dear Space Time,<br />no need to apologize. it seemed to me that <i>her</i> comments had caused a lot of grievance to <i>you</i>. <br />I do not know where this "grad student" kind of test comes from, but as mathematicians used to say, theorems are either not yet been proven, or trivial. of course the whole landau & lifshitz books should be but an exercise to a grad student at some rmshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17182375914600175166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-1326923581562089972018-05-23T11:41:32.494-04:002018-05-23T11:41:32.494-04:00Ok, it seems that my comments have caused a lot of...Ok, it seems that my comments have caused a lot of grievance to some people, or at least a waste of time. So I would like to apologies to them. I will not pursue my point any more. I'd like to clarify one point. I didn't say that the more difficult the maths the better the physics. I said something logically independent, namely that if the maths is trivail and a grad student can easily doAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098439870046873701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-54669531619244230592018-05-23T10:25:07.297-04:002018-05-23T10:25:07.297-04:00Group think gets a lot of bad press but it is usin...Group think gets a lot of bad press but it is using a useful heuristic. If you are about to embark on something that you can't easily know the answer to, like where is the best place to invest my money. One obvious answer is to see what other people are doing. Of course there are pitfalls to this, one should check back with reality to see if it really is a good idea.<br /><br />When it comes Mighty Drunkenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07111065683737068582noreply@blogger.com