News Discussing Eric Weinstein's Physics Views: Caveats & Qualifications

  • Thread starter Thread starter hyksos
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Physics
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on Eric Weinstein's recent appearance on PBS Spacetime, where he was featured alongside other physicists like Hossenfelder and Smolin. The thread invites commentary on Weinstein's contributions to physics, particularly his theory of Geometric Unity, which he presented in 2013. This theory proposes a 14-dimensional space and suggests the existence of undiscovered particles that could explain dark matter. However, skepticism surrounds his ideas due to the lack of published papers or preprints, with few physicists engaging in the discourse. Critics, including science writer Jennifer Ouellette, have pointed out that without formal publication, Weinstein's theories cannot undergo proper scientific scrutiny. The thread emphasizes that it is not intended as an endorsement of Weinstein or his views.
hyksos
Messages
35
Reaction score
11
(Some opening caveat emptors and qualifications : This thread should not be interpreted by the moderators as promotion of Eric Weinstein, his views, or his writings. I hope that this thread will therefore not be immediately locked by moderators.)

I made this thread because PBS Spacetime ( a channel I love) has recently given a platform to Weinstein by inviting him on as a guest on a live podcast. He was not the sole guest, however, but brought on with a group of others. (Hossenfelder, Smolin)

I invite anyone to leave their comments, criticisms, or other thoughts about Eric Weinstein and his behavior in regards to physics.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
If he gets his ideas published in a reputable journal, we can discuss at that time. Right now
In May 2013, Weinstein gave a colloquium talk, Geometric Unity, promoted by Marcus du Sautoy as a potential unified theory of physics, an event covered by The Guardian.[11][12] His unpublished theory includes an "observerse," a 14-dimensional space, and predictions for undiscovered particles which he stated could account for dark matter. Joseph Conlon of the University of Oxford stated that some of these particles, if they existed, would already have been detected in existing accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.[13]

Few physicists attended and no preprint, paper, or equations were published.[14] Weinstein's ideas were not widely debated. The few that did engage expressed skepticism.[13][15] Science writer Jennifer Ouellette criticized the promotion of Weinstein's colloquium in an article for Scientific American, arguing that the ideas could not be properly vetted by experts because there was no published paper.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Weinstein#Physics

This thread is closed.
 
  • Like
Likes strangerep, berkeman and BillTre
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...

Similar threads

Replies
2
Views
502K
Back
Top