Oh, I'm finally getting the crackpot thing

[Isaac0427]

I admit that I have made the crackpot mistake (well, I was in middle school, in my defense). I've never quite understood why you guys get so annoyed. Now I do.

I was scrolling across Instagram and I found this physics account, and I thought "oh, yay, physics!" Well, you can see for yourself: http://instagram.com/physicsoftheuniverse

I then politely told him that his information about the Higgs boson (and it turns out a lot of what he posts) was incorrect. The Higgs field does not interact with hadrons and quarks (a misconception I have fallen for, I admit). I was then given a speech about how there are no definite right or wrong answers in theoretical physics, and how the account posts all views/opinions (there's a nice theory about the Higgs boson somewhere in there). I then (politely) said that physics does have facts, and rarely opinions (or at least the "opinions" are backed up by experimental and/or mathematical evidence). I also directed him here to learn more but I don't think he's planning on doing that based on his response.

What confuses me, though is that he says he has a degree in physics. But it doesn't seem to me that someone with a physics degree would say what he said. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, but it seems a little odd to me.

So, long story short, I understand your issues about crackpots (although if they're willing to learn I still don't see the big deal).

I also thought you guys would enjoy looking at the material on that account.

 

[jedishrfu]

It looks like he's channelling physics posters from other folks. Some are pretty good and some are speculative. You'd have to research each one to know what's what.

 

[Isaac0427]

It looks like he's channelling physics posters from other folks. Some are pretty good and some are speculative. You'd have to research each one to know what's what.

Yep. I don't say it was all bad, or even most. But there is some untrue information there, and he posts them as "opinions".

There were actually a few I really liked on there.

 

[strangerep]

So, long story short, I understand your issues about crackpots (although if they're willing to learn I still don't see the big deal).

If they're "willing to learn", they're not crackpots -- just temporarily in error.

I also thought you guys would enjoy looking at the material on that account.

If there's too much misinformation in there, I suspect your link might get deleted soon.

Btw, you might enjoy John Baez's crackpot index if you haven't already seen it. (It's a guide for ranking various levels of crackpottery.)

I especially like John's last entry:

John Baez[/URL]]50 points for claiming you have a revolutionary theory but giving no concrete testable predictions.

This seems applicable to much of string theory, SUSY, Multiverse, etc.