Recent content by Bohr_Wars

I did Scandinavian languages and took an external (Institute of Linguists) exam in it. My mother is Danish and I was brought up speaking English and Danish, so the Danish exam was easier than easy. I also did a course in sex education and got to watch a lot of interesting movies. I did rock...

Josh, The way you put it, no it's not odd at all. As you say, the theory/theories with claims to be the TOE are going to be of interest because they'll provide the foundation on which everything else is built. How much we understand of those theories is another matter.

Marcus, I've found the Paul Davies' quote. It's in his book, "About Time", p184. Davies writes about the response to Hawking's "A Brief History of Time": "Especially outraged by Hawking and his daring ideas were the British chattering classes. By tradition, British intellectual life is...

There are so many areas of important scientific and medical research that barely get a mention in the popular press. So it's odd that physics at its most theoretical and obscure, ie string theory, has been able to capture the public's attention. I was recently asked by someone who knows even...

Marcus, I was reading Paul Davies the other day. He suggested there has been a big shift in recent years towards a public interest in scientific research. He dates it back to the publication of Stephen Hawking's first popular book. Until that time, intellectuals were considered to be people like...

Zapper, I take your point. I'm sorry if I have started something unpleasant here. My point in starting the thread was to ask why there is such anger and dispute on a matter of theoretical physics. It's amazing that a question about which the general public has little understanding can make...

Edward Witten, admittedly an exceptional case, received his bachelor's degree in history (with a minor in linguistics) from Brandeis University, then did his PhD in physics at Princeton. Imagine the talent that has to be there to switch from undergrad history to doctoral level physics (and...

I stumbled into this forum, and Josh assumed I had purposefully made my way here to fly a few flags for LQG and "anti-string" theories. Not so. If nothing else, I have learned that this is a subject that arouses a lot of passion. It touches a nerve, suggesting, in years to come, that a lot of...

Josh, first of all Physics Forums is one place I visit and one of the many things I read. So I am not in danger of fishing in backwaters. The comparison with religion v science is not quite the same because religion and theology's questions can be understood very quickly using the language we...

Those of us who are spectators, and who can therefore make no contribution to the science, are dependent on the opinions of experts and popularizers. It would be stupid and pointless for someone like myself to suggest that one theory is correct and another false. For example, I read about...

Josh, I am a newcomer here. You seemed to assume that I should know there were folks favorable to LQG here. I did not know that. As an outsider interested in physics I have no bias: I am not qualified to have a bias. I interest myself in current research, books, papers, and blogs. I don't...

I don't find that a very interesting question. If someone wishes to answer it, feel free.

With all respect, Josh, you are missing the point. Also, you are not the board's policeman telling us what we can and cannot talk about. If you find my posts tiresome, ignore them, don't waste your time responding. Who are you to call anyone an idiot? What makes you think I come down on one...

I don't see that this is a rant. It's a comment. I tried to find the best place for the comment, which has to do with research beyond the standard model. But perhaps I found the wrong place. Yes, you are right -- as a mathematician and physicist I am a lot worse than Woit, Motl, Randall. Smolin...

I am one of those laymen who wish to go beyond the popularizations of Greene, Randall, Smolin and others. I thought it might be worthwhile to follow the blogs of scientists/researchers such as Peter Woit, Lubos Motl, etc. Unfortunately, those blogs are little more than mud-slinging contests...