"...utter lack of achievement and progress in your works." - AlphaNumeric, responding to the material submitted by QuantumWave and Kaiduorkhon, in this thread.
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Excerpts from 'bloggingheads.TV' features author-Physicist, Peter Woit, in conversation with a peer, about string theory... Commentary and excerpts follow:
"How young physicists get stuck in the string theory rut".
(Post graduate) 'people follow the money'.
"...in the marketplace of ideas... people are concerned about their funding"
"It's very dangerous to invest such resources in something that hasn't worked out the way anticipated..." - Woit, paraphrased
'String theory is evasive...' - Woit, paraphrased.
'Not Even Wrong, by Peter Woit: The failure of String Theory and the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics.'
'Woit's central claim is that not only is string theory wrong, but that is has also tainted the intellectual atmosphere and grabbed far more than its fair share...'
'... there is criticism for not providing quantitative experimental predictions'.
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'String Theory for Dummies':
String theory subjected buzzwords include 'psuedo studies' and 'more new age propaganda than science'. 'String theory=1st candidate for a Theory of Everything (TOE).'
'String Theory is an extension of General Relativity and the interpretation of strings and membranes (branes)...' '...is that they are quantum mechanical vibrations, extended charged black holes'.
"Membranes (branes - 2-dimensional 'sheets') are end points for strings = Guage gravity duality'
'...leads to new insights on strong nuclear force'.
After trial and error methods of thought problems, 'strings (now) also equal points and surfaces'.
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YouTube-SDS String theory for dummies (video):
In a school playground setting an older, bigger girl approaches a smaller younger girl and says:
"Remember when you were told in science class that there's nothing smaller than the sub-atomic atoms?" (paraphrased)
The little girl looks up at the larger authority figure and replies affirmatively, "Yes".
The larger, older girl exclaims triumphantly: "They lied!".
Does not this string theory propaganda directly imply that the students are being lied to by their teachers?
Does this mean that Rutherford 'lied' when he discovered the proton, or, that J. J. Thompson lied when he discovered the electron?
Following through on this line of accusatory thinking, does every plateau of advancement in science determine that whatever preceded it was a 'lie'?
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There is also an String theory instructive video that features a photograph of Einstein looking a the camera, with his mouth artificially activated, advocating and explaining string theory.
This is reminiscent of a 1979 network TV presentation of the Big Bang, featuring Peter Ustionov as the narrating host, proclaiming that 'Einstein predicted the Big Bang', which is simply untrue, what Einstein did predict (in 1919) was an expanding universe, eight years before Silpher-Hubble co-jointly determined it.
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String theory is ‘not even wrong’ (continued)
Excerpts from contributing editor, Jeffrey Bairstow's blog, follow:
“String theory, however, despite not having made a single testable prediction after more than 30 years of investigation, now seems to risk becoming a self-perpetuating intellectual monoculture in theoretical particle physics.”
Has string theory already passed its “sell-by” date? Are the legendary string theorists tying themselves up in knots to no avail? Are the emperors of particle physics not wearing any clothes?
Perhaps the much-ballyhooed string theory is “not even wrong” in the famously scathing words of quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli who frequently applied those disparaging words in discussions with his colleagues?
To judge by the current tempest in a teapot surrounding string theory, all of the foregoing statements may have some value and some may even be correct. The roiling controversy surrounds a thought-provoking book on the *state of quantum physics by Columbia University’s superstar mathematical physicist, Peter Woit (*on second thought, make that “states.”) Entitled, not surprisingly,
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics, the book was published in June in London by Jonathan Cape and will be available in the U.S. in September (Basic Books, New York, NY).
Naturally, the controversy has spread into the Internet medium referred to as the “blogosphere,” where anyone can publish anything with or without the respectability of credentials. On one side, of course, sits Woit with his frequently entertaining and highly respected blog, entitled, naturally, “Not Even Wrong.” And
“reviewers” have been swinging at the book and each other on Amazon, the online bookstore. Go to Amazon.co.uk to see all the reviews. Amazon, of course, prints all the reviews it gets-without fear or favor. Not all of these amateur reviewers choose to give their real names-and for good reason.
Some of the big names do not hide behind a nom de plume (nom de key?). Here’s what Harvard superstar physicist and firebrand Lubos Motl had to say about Woit’s blog (and book): “It is designed to misinterpret and obscure virtually every event in physics and transform it into poison-and to invent his own fantasies to hurt science. This makes Woit’s blog highly popular among the crackpots.” For even more scathing comments, you can turn to Motl’s own blog at motls.blogspot.com.
On the other side of the coin, the book quotes Richard Feynman as saying in 1987, a year before his death: “I think all this superstring stuff is crazy and it is in the wrong direction.”
In his blog, “Fourmilog,” Autodesk founder John Walker says, “String theory, however, despite not having made a single testable prediction after more than 30 years of investigation, now seems to risk becoming a self-perpetuating intellectual monoculture in theoretical particle physics.” Walker has a four-page review of Woit’s book on his blog that is well worth reading even if you don’t buy the book.
-Jeffrey Bairstow
Contributing Editor
jnbairstow@verizon.net
1 August 2006
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With regard to this (presently derailed) thread, although there were some off-topic events precluding the middle of page 11, the ongoing rhubarb commenced in continuously obstructive earnest, beginning at Post 104 and proceeding consistently to Post 125 (at the time of this writing); with the exceptions of Kaiduorkhon's on-topic Posts, 110, 114 and 123, all of which (so far) have (notably) been completely ignored.
Apparently the tentatively stationed, in absentia AlphaNumeric has excercised his right to drop out of this argument, or has taken a temporary hiatus,
perhaps having dismissed reality for lack of evidence ('...utter lack of achievement and progress in your works'.)
In any case, Alphanumeric is at least temporarily retired from making any further points in the field.
Hopefully, AlphaNumeric is reading the offered topic material in order to qualify himself to disqualify it - which, given what he has said about it, shouldn't be too chore-some or challenging. Although this kind of argument isn't a boxing match, and Kaiduorkhon isn't Sugar Ray Leonard, the dissipation of AlphaNumeric immersing himself in a brawl with QuantumWave, amounting to a functional discontinuance of even responding to Kaiduorkhon, is a metaphorical replay of the boxer, Roberto Duran, inexplicably quitting in the middle of a contest with Leonard; after Duran having long taunted - and name-called - Leonard as an inferior fighter. Notwithstanding, AlphaNumeric ('Trust me') has categorically denied that no one competent in physics is or would be intimidated by the work of Kaiduorkhon.
In any event, an abbreviated, informal list of achievements and progress of the topic - Total Field Theory - will follow this post.