Physicists DO have a sense of humor

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the humorous aspects of theoretical physics, particularly focusing on Holger B. Nielsen's unconventional ideas, such as backward causation and its implications for funding decisions in physics. Participants explore the intersection of humor and serious scientific discourse, reflecting on Nielsen's character and the nature of theoretical physics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that Nielsen's hypothesis suggests a backward wave from the future influenced funding decisions for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), which they find humorous.
  • Others express that Nielsen's approach may be more sarcastic or ironic rather than serious, questioning the validity of his claims.
  • Several participants highlight Nielsen's expressive personality and suggest he could be a character in a sitcom, reflecting on his entertaining presentation style.
  • One participant critiques the state of theoretical physics, suggesting that it often lacks new fundamental ideas and is driven by political motivations for funding.
  • Some express admiration for Nielsen's ability to blend humor with serious scientific discussions, indicating that he is respected in his field despite the lighthearted nature of his theories.
  • There are mentions of Nielsen's notable contributions to physics, including the Nielsen-Olesen vortex and the Nielsen-Ninomiya no-go theorem, juxtaposed with his humorous remarks about his own theories.
  • Participants share anecdotes about attending Nielsen's talks, emphasizing the comedic elements of his presentations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the humorous nature of Nielsen's work and personality, but there is no consensus on the seriousness of his theories or their implications for physics. Multiple competing views exist regarding the interpretation of his ideas.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the seriousness of Nielsen's theories and the motivations behind them, indicating a lack of clarity in the philosophical implications of his work.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in the intersection of humor and theoretical physics, as well as those curious about unconventional approaches in scientific discourse, may find this discussion engaging.

DrChinese
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This appeared this week:

Backward Causation in Complex Action Model --- Superdeterminism and Transactional Interpretations, Holger B. Nielsen, Masao Ninomiya (Submitted on 3 Aug 2010)

"It is shown that the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics being referred back to Feynman-Wheeler's time reversal symmetric radiation theory has reminiscences to our complex action model. In this complex action model the initial conditions are in principle even calculable. Thus it philosophically points towards superdeterminism, but really the Bell theorem problem is solved in our model of complex action by removing the significance of signals running slower than by light velocity.

Our model as earlier published predicts that LHC should have some failure before reaching to have produced as many Higgs-particles as would have been produced the SSC accelerator. In the present article, we point out that a cardgame involving whether to restrict LHC-running as we have proposed to test our model will under all circumstances be a success. "

Basically, they hypothesize that a backwards wave from the future caused the U.S. Congress to cease funding the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in the 1990's. Who says physicists don't have a sense of humor?
 
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In the case of Holger B. Nielsen I would say sarcasm or irony.
 
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DrChinese said:
Basically, they hypothesize that a backwards wave from the future caused the U.S. Congress to cease funding the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in the 1990's. Who says physicists don't have a sense of humor?


HAHAHA! These Danish jokers! :smile:

Holger B. Nielsen is just an "entangled mixture" of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Adventures_of_Nils" ! He exist yes, but not for "real", hahaha! ... a bird dropped a baguette on LHC and "God" intervened ... :smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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Funny DrC! :smile:
 
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He's quite a character, that's for sure. They should put him on the "The big bang theory" as a nutty professor working with Sheldon. But I suppose people would think he's overacting. :smile:
 
Fredrik said:
But I suppose people would think he's overacting. :smile:

Why...!:confused:?

(:smile:)
 
DevilsAvocado said:
HAHAHA! These Danish jokers! :smile:

...

Funny DrC! :smile:

DA, You always amaze me with this stuff!

Nielsen is quite a character, very expressive. Apparently he is real, and is respected in his field. Whatever field that is. :biggrin:
 
The message that I get from his theory is this: theoretical physics without new fundamental ideas is at a dead end. Too often results or quasi-results are announced for political reasons, that is to have funds. Like the Higgs boson that seems to be always behind the door. Too often physicists pretend to impose their view about nature, and not to understand how nature works. He seems to say that in modern physics every kind of theory and its opposite can be possible. So we have theories with n-dimensons, incredible numbers of vacuum states, Calabi-Yau, manyfolds with all shapes, generations of string theories, hidden valleys, many words, many universes, Higgses of any type, particles, sparticles, unparticles, retrocausality, signals faster than the speed of light, action at a distance, Abracadabra of any sorts ... poor Galileo! ... but I think H. B. Nielsen is having a lot of fun about all that.
 
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DrChinese said:
Basically, they hypothesize that a backwards wave from the future caused the U.S. Congress to cease funding the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) in the 1990's.

Too bad Steven Weinberg didn't reach this result earlier; he could've saved himself a lot of effort!
Perhaps we can send the paper back in time to him?
 
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  • #10
I attended a talk of him at the Niels Bohr institute last year. It was quite amazing, actually; his voice blew away the people on the first line, and some people in the audience unfamiliar with him were looking around like "what the heck?!" :')

Especially his "There are a lot of problems with my theory, but I have only 20 minutes, so let's ignore these for the moment" was quite brilliant.
 
  • #11
DrChinese said:
DA, You always amaze me with this stuff!

It's my pleasure. :wink:

DrChinese said:
Nielsen is quite a character, very expressive. Apparently he is real, and is respected in his field. Whatever field that is. :biggrin:

Corn(y) field? :biggrin:
 
  • #12
haushofer said:
Especially his "There are a lot of problems with my theory, but I have only 20 minutes, so let's ignore these for the moment" was quite brilliant.

LOL! This man is a GENIUS! Absolutely brilliant! :smile:

As we all understand by now; Holger Bech Nielsen is for really real, on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holger_Bech_Nielsen" .

Holger Bech Nielsen has what looks like http://arxiv.org/find/all/1/au:+Nielsen_Holger_Bech/0/1/0/all/0/1" on arXiv.org. :smile:

Maybe the 69 year old professor just wants to have some fun in the end of his career... :rolleyes:
 
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  • #13
Have you ever been listening his oral presentation?
When you do it the first time, you cannot stop laughing. :smile:
 
  • #14
I don't think Holger is taking these ideas seriously, it didn't seem like it last time I shortly spoke to him at the Niels Bohr Institute. But he IS very respected in his field, he is for example the Nielsen from Nielsen-Olesen vortex (non-Abelian gauge theories), Nielsen-Ninomiya no-go theorem (lattice models) and he was among the first persons to recognize the strings in the Veneziano model. He usually say: "I am one of the fathers of string theory but I am a bad father; I don't believe in my own child"! :biggrin:
 
  • #15
What a riot! This Nielsen is priceless! Thanks for sharing DrC & DA.
 
  • #16
element4 said:
I don't think Holger is taking these ideas seriously, it didn't seem like it last time I shortly spoke to him at the Niels Bohr Institute. But he IS very respected in his field, he is for example the Nielsen from Nielsen-Olesen vortex (non-Abelian gauge theories), Nielsen-Ninomiya no-go theorem (lattice models) and he was among the first persons to recognize the strings in the Veneziano model. He usually say: "I am one of the fathers of string theory but I am a bad father; I don't believe in my own child"! :biggrin:

I saw him selected to referee a hotly debated scientific dispute on Wikipedia. The other referee selected was Hawking.

But he does make me laff... :smile: You gots to!
 
  • #17
Demystifier said:
Have you ever been listening his oral presentation?
When you do it the first time, you cannot stop laughing. :smile:

Enjoy! :smile:

Holger Bech Nielsen – "CERN and the Anti Miracle"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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I would call this a "PowerPoint Anti Miracle", have you ever seen overhead on the fly, LOL! :biggrin:


(I can’t type anymore... tears in my eyes... :smile:)
 
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  • #18
Gokul43201 said:
What a riot! This Nielsen is priceless! Thanks for sharing DrC & DA.

You're welcome. :wink:
 
  • #19
DevilsAvocado said:
I would call this a "PowerPoint Anti Miracle", have you ever seen overhead on the fly, LOL! :biggrin:


(I can’t type anymore... tears in my eyes... :smile:)

At about 9:00, he starts writing a new slide...during the presentation itself. :biggrin:
 
  • #20
DrChinese said:
At about 9:00, he starts writing a new slide...during the presentation itself. :biggrin:

Yeeees pleeeeease, and who says physicists don't have a sense of humor...? :biggrin:
 
  • #21
I had the fortune to speak with him for two days and I can assure that he is a wonderful person and in his eyes you can see genial intuitions... I laughed all the time.
PS: He drinks a coffe every 30min.
 
  • #22
Halcyon-on said:
PS: He drinks a coffe every 30min.

No...really? I would never have guessed...

Hey, does anyone remember Archimedes/Ludwig Plutonium? You got to laff at that! (And I am not placing Nielsen in the same bucket as Lp).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Likebox/Archimedes_Plutonium
 
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  • #23
This Plutonium guy seems simply crazy to me. What has he done to deserve a wiki page devoted to him?
 
  • #24
Demystifier said:
What has he done to deserve a wiki page devoted to him?

20,000 crazy postings... :rolleyes:
 
  • #25
Sure, physicists must have a sense of humour...try answering the question

What is time? http://www.sciblog.org/"

or view You don't like it? by http://youtu.be/iMDTcMD6pOw"
 
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  • #26
DevilsAvocado said:
I would call this a "PowerPoint Anti Miracle", have you ever seen overhead on the fly, LOL! :biggrin:

oh yes, all the time. you just don't understand, this used to be norm, only with much less interesting lecturers. one of my teachers had bound his jumble of typed and handwritten slides into a book we had to buy instead of a real controls book (he was miffed no publisher would ever take him), circuits, etc... and he would correct these slides on the fly quite often with felt tip pen in hand.
 
  • #27
DevilsAvocado said:
20,000 crazy postings... :rolleyes:

i had no idea he was still around. he was a rockstar on Usenet. is Kibo also trolling wiki?
 

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