How is Michio Kaku regarded in the Physics world?

[DHF]

Kaku generally qualifies what he says. Maybe you can cite an example of how he misrepresents science.

Well I don't know about misrepresenting science but he misrepresents himself. In the following interview at 2:15 he takes credit for string theory, boldly claiming that it is his own contribution to science.

"www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBB2qHgZvLY"

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Well I don't know about misrepresenting science but he misrepresents himself. In the following interview at 2:15 he takes credit for string theory, boldly claiming that it is his own contribution to science.

"www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBB2qHgZvLY"

It is bold and he should have added "helped" but still I take it as if he were saying "I worked on it". Interviews are tough because you can't edit what you say after the fact. We'd all say poorly worded things.

 

[arildno]

It is bold and he should have added "helped" but still I take it as if he were saying "I worked on it". Interviews are tough because you can't edit what you say after the fact. We'd all say poorly worded things.

Consistent with his personality as a vain, conceited blatherboy, though...

 

[DHF]

It is bold and he should have added "helped" but still I take it as if he were saying "I worked on it". Interviews are tough because you can't edit what you say after the fact. We'd all say poorly worded things.

yes it is possible to make verbal typos but in this case I don't believe it was. he seems fairly specific in what he was saying. things like "that is my equation " "my own contribution to science" . This is directly misleading.

 

[phinds]

Consistent with his personality as a vain, conceited blatherboy, though...

+1 on that

 

[phinds]

It is bold and he should have added "helped" but still I take it as if he were saying "I worked on it". Interviews are tough because you can't edit what you say after the fact. We'd all say poorly worded things.

Hah! Speak yourself for, Greg, I say never word poorly things !

 

[Vahsek]

I know this question is going to sound stupid, but... Why would he do such things? Can't he just do his physics stuff and stop trying to get into the spotlight on TV?

 

[micromass]

I know this question is going to sound stupid, but... Why would he do such things? Can't he just do his physics stuff and stop trying to get into the spotlight on TV?

Good question. Why do Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus do what they do? Fame? Money? I don't know...

 

[Vahsek]

Good question. Why do Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus do what they do? Fame? Money? I don't know...

Very funny. But, what I mean is that the guy is a physicist, and he was pretty smart too if I believe what I have already read about him. It's not like he was some random "lady Gaga" or "Miley Cyrus"...

 

[micromass]

Very funny. But, what I mean is that the guy is a physicist, and he was pretty smart too if I believe what I have already read about him. It's not like he was some random "lady Gaga" or "Miley Cyrus"...

It was only meant half as a joke. I just mean, people do crazy things to keep being in the spotlights. Modern musicians try to keep an audience by going naked or just weird. Maybe Kaku has to go all speculative in order to keep the audience. Or perhaps it's because his books sell well and he gets rich. Or maybe it's because he genuinly believes he's doing a good job. Perhaps a combination of those.

 

[Vahsek]

It was only meant half as a joke. I just mean, people do crazy things to keep being in the spotlights. Modern musicians try to keep an audience by going naked or just weird. Maybe Kaku has to go all speculative in order to keep the audience. Or perhaps it's because his books sell well and he gets rich. Or maybe it's because he genuinly believes he's doing a good job. Perhaps a combination of those.

Yeah... That makes sense now.

 

[DHF]

There have been numerous threads on this forum slamming Kaku for the nonsense that he spouts to make money. Yes, he WAS a serious scientist but that stopped some 20 years ago. Now he's a fantastical popularizer of the worst sort.

I think that sums it up pretty nicely. yes there is no denying he is intelligent. yes he has his advanced degrees and has written many papers. but as Phinds says, that is very much in the past. He was an accomplished physicist, but for many years now he has become more of a celebrity then a scientist. Now I am all for popularization of science and I think people like Tyson do a good job but I have watched many clips of Kaku and to date all he ever seems to do is talk about the most far fetched science fiction. He loves to wildly speculate on what is possible but I see very little education is what he is saying. While people like Greene and Tyson are describing space time in laymen terms so people like me can understand them, Kaku is talking about pills that will make you God. The former is useful to me, the latter...not so much.

 

[Intrastellar]

Well I don't know about misrepresenting science but he misrepresents himself. In the following interview at 2:15 he takes credit for string theory, boldly claiming that it is his own contribution to science.

"www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBB2qHgZvLY"

I don't know enough physics, so I hope someone can correct me on this.
But didn't he take credit of String Field Theory ? Is String Field Theory specifically his work ? As far as I can tell ((mis)read from wikipedia), this is different from taking credit of all of String Theory.

Edit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_field_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

After getting his PhD from the University of California, Berkley, Michio joined in on this challenge. He co-founded string field theory, a subset of string theory. String field theory uses the mathematics of fields to explain string theory.

http://www.aps.org/careers/physicists/profiles/kaku.cfm

 

[DHF]

Ok then I mis-heard him, it sounded like he was laying claim to String Theory. if he was talking about String field theory then that would clear that bit up but he still should have admitted that he co founded instead of claiming it as his own. And he is still on trial for being a "vain, conceited blatherboy". :D

 

[Intrastellar]

Ok then I mis-heard him, it sounded like he was laying claim to String Theory. if he was talking about String field theory then that would clear that bit up but he still should have admitted that he co founded instead of claiming it as his own. And he is still on trial for being a "vain, conceited blatherboy". :D

You jumped the gun. If you really misheard him then you didn't even bother to re-watch the video, and even if you did, you didn't try to see if there is a misunderstanding from your part.
Put yourself in his shoes, would you have liked people to call you a "vain, conceited blatherboy" for something you didn't even say ?

To be more specific, he said that the equation in SFT that combines both is his equation (whatever that meant), not all of SFT. I don't know much about SFT, and I would like someone who knows about it to correct me. But even if that is wrong, compared to your "he takes credit for string theory" you jumped the gun again.

 

[arildno]

Note:
I've never said that Kaku isn't a brilliant physicist.
That doesn't mean he can't be a vain, conceited blatherboy as well.
In particular when he talks about other things than his professional expertise, as if he has something particularly noteworthy to say about that. Examples of that have been given earlier in this thread.

 

[DHF]

Admitted. I Jumped the Gun, during the interview I did not hear him say the word "field". So I do apologize for accusing him of taking credit for String Theory. However the reference to him being a vain conceited Blatherboy was in regards to his general hand waving circus act that he calls science. It had nothing to do with him taking credit for String Theory. The fact that he didn't take credit for String Theory doesn't change the fact that he spends most of his time on the air talking about science fiction rather then science.

 

[phinds]

You jumped the gun. If you really misheard him then you didn't even bother to re-watch the video, and even if you did, you didn't try to see if there is a misunderstanding from your part.
Put yourself in his shoes, would you have liked people to call you a "vain, conceited blatherboy" for something you didn't even say ?

To be more specific, he said that the equation in SFT that combines both is his equation (whatever that meant), not all of SFT. I don't know much about SFT, and I would like someone who knows about it to correct me. But even if that is wrong, compared to your "he takes credit for string theory" you jumped the gun again.

You are quibbling over one mis-statement. Kaku IS a blatherboy, of the worst sort, and if you don't realize that then you have either not watched much of him at all on the pop-sci and sci-fic shows or you don't understand much of physics.

 

[Intrastellar]

Note:
I've never said that Kaku isn't a brilliant physicist.
That doesn't mean he can't be a vain, conceited blatherboy as well.
In particular when he talks about other things than his professional expertise, as if he has something particularly noteworthy to say about that. Examples of that have been given earlier in this thread.

I am aware of the examples, and I agree with you in that regard.
But I was talking specifically about the mention of the video, you didn't bother verifying it as well, it would be great if you could at least admit that.

Admitted. I Jumped the Gun, during the interview I did not hear him say the word "field". So I do apologize for accusing him of taking credit for String Theory. However the reference to him being a vain conceited Blatherboy was in regards to his general hand waving circus act that he calls science. It had nothing to do with him taking credit for String Theory. The fact that he didn't take credit for String Theory doesn't change the fact that he spends most of his time on the air talking about science fiction rather then science.

Good Please try to make a habit of verifying claims about others in the future

You are quibbling over one mis-statement. Kaku IS a blatherboy, of the worst sort, and if you don't realize that then you have either not watched much of him at all on the pop-sci and sci-fic shows or you don't understand much of physics.

You are quibbling over something that is not even a mis-statement, but something that you misheard.
Same reply as arildno.

 

[arildno]

To be nitpicky, what I ACTUALLY said was:
"Consistent with his personality as a vain, conceited blatherboy, though... "
which does not declare that this particular video seance as such WAS an example of that blathering (I didn't bother to see it), but that it wouldn't surprise me if it was (i.e, it would have been consistent with his well-established media goblin persona)

 

[WannabeNewton]

You are quibbling over one mis-statement. Kaku IS a blatherboy, of the worst sort, and if you don't realize that then you have either not watched much of him at all on the pop-sci and sci-fic shows or you don't understand much of physics.

You have to calm down. He's a person too. In the end he's the one who's winning, not you, so stop trying so hard because it's just sad. I know montadhar personally and he knows his physics very well-your attitude is extremely annoying. What makes you think you "understand much of physics"?

 

[phinds]

You have to calm down. He's a person too. In the end he's the one who's winning, not you, so stop trying so hard because it's just sad. I know montadhar personally and he knows his physics very well-your attitude is extremely annoying. What makes you think you "understand much of physics"?

Actually, I DON'T know all that much physics and Kaku does. My point, however, is that you wouldn't know that by listening to him blather on the pop sci shows, where he grossly misrepresents science and I'd expect that to be clear to anyone who knows a bit of physics and has seen him perform.

 

[phinds]

You have to calm down.

You're right. Kaku and his ilk seriously annoy me and I tend to get too vehement in talking about them.

 

[Tobias Funke]

Stop it! Stop it! Can't you see this [STRIKE]barnyard noise guessing game[/STRIKE] Michio Kaku is tearing us apart?

 

[DennisN]

Stop it! Stop it! Can't you see this [STRIKE]barnyard noise guessing game[/STRIKE] Michio Kaku is tearing us apart?

Beware of the dark force.

 

[jesse73]

It is bold and he should have added "helped" but still I take it as if he were saying "I worked on it". Interviews are tough because you can't edit what you say after the fact. We'd all say poorly worded things.

Same comment in a completely different interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKocErBI2n8#t=3335

 

[ChrisVer]

I don't really like the fact that based on where you studied, or how many papers you have published, you can reach a position where nobody is allowed to criticize you or whether what you are doing is right or wrong.
Obviously for a layman watching Kaku can be destructive, and so what he does is wrong... now if we consider that he is a smart person, he does that conciously and that makes him a terrible persona. At least the rest of crackpots going around the internet are people who obviously don't realize what they are doing or saying...

 

[ZapperZ]

Michio who?!

Just so you know, this thread is from 2014.

Zz.

 

[phinds]

I don't really like the fact that based on where you studied, or how many papers you have published, you can reach a position where nobody is allowed to criticize you or whether what you are doing is right or wrong.

Hm ... we criticize him here all the time

Obviously for a layman watching Kaku can be destructive, and so what he does is wrong... now if we consider that he is a smart person, he does that conciously and that makes him a terrible persona. At least the rest of crackpots going around the internet are people who obviously don't realize what they are doing or saying...

Well, I think he justifies his actions to himself by saying that he is popularizing science for the masses.

Then he laughs all the way to the bank.

 

[Hornbein]

I got interested in quantum computation, so I spent a few hours learning about it. Then I gave a Kaku video a try. He knew less than I did! It was all wrong. What gall that guy has got, doing zero study before spreading his horse manure. He does look nice, though.