Why do some scientists become crackpots?

[Rach3]

It's irrational to turn into a crackpot - sane people will stop funding your research. Yet there are PhDs turned crackpot; for example Podkletnov. Why? It can't be a statistical fluke - there are thousands of these guys.

 

[Just some guy]

Well I would think most come from broken enamelware, but I digress...

 

[3trQN]

Well I would think most come from broken enamelware, but I digress...

I think it has something to do with Hydrogen-Bonding and excessive pressure under sub-zero temperatures.

 

[Hurkyl]

It can't be a statistical fluke - there are thousands of these guys.

Out of how many?

(Thousands? Really?)

 

[Cyrus]

You're a crackpot.

 

[heartless]

“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Even if you don't believe in sins, it still holds true for everyone.

 

[Astronuc]

“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

And besides, it's not nice.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thousands?

I think some people get hooked on one way of thinking and can't let it go. Eventually they abandon rational thought in order to preserve their belief system.

In his later years, was Pascal a crackpot, or did he simply see the light?

 

[Curious3141]

Where do crackpots come from?

Why, from Papa and Mama Crackpot, of course!

 

[franznietzsche]

I think some people get hooked on one way of thinking and can't let it go. Eventually they abandon rational thought in order to preserve their belief system.

They're called Democrats and Republicans incidently.

Crackpots come from Pottery Barn, obviously.

 

[Lisa!]

I'm the end of the evolution of the human race! I'm universe and I'm out.

well that says a lot about them!

 

[dav2008]

I'm not so sure that they consider themselves as being crackpots.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I should add that this works both ways. When people believe that science has explained everything - when they believe that the explanation for any mystery is a mere formality - they have closed their minds to the possibility of learning something new and important. This is also a form of crackpotism.

 

[Rach3]

I was actually being quite specific with my Podkletnov example, a crackpot which is not based on religion or any other obvious motivation, who is educated enough to know very well that his research his bunk. The kind that can't possibly believe research they themselves have faked or manipulated or otherwise grossly misrepresented. Is it profitable or something? I mean I know cold fusion got a few millions in federal funding, and still has that, also the isomeric Hafnium bomb nonsense, they also got DoD funding under DARPA (both despite condemnation by the NAS - tells you something about our beauracrats) - [edit: one more example - NASA funding the Podkletnov gizmo - from http://www.bobpark.org/WN01/wn101201.html ]but I should imagine, on average, it's much easier to get funding for legitimate research, then for absolute nonsense?

(anyone who hasn't heard of the Hafnium debacle, a great article is here)

 

[Mk]

They come from where the sun don't shine.

 

[LURCH]

I think Podkletnov got one anomalous result (probably a malfunctioning scale), and its potential benefits were so impressive that he couldn't help believing it. This of course is the reason science demands not only recordable results, but repeatable ones. I'm sure penicillin looked like a crackpot idea until it got consistent and repeatable results.

As for NASA funding research on the project; I think they did the right thing. Two million dollars over an eight-year period is really a very small fraction of their R&D budget, and the only way to tell the difference between a revolutionary breakthrough and a crackpot scheme is to test it. The greater the potential benefit, the more thoroughly it must be tested before being discarded.

 

[DaveC426913]

Perhaps the "light" that successful crackpots see is that there is more money in publicity (even bad publicity) than there is in scientific funding.

If it sells your books, who cares if it's right!

 

[wolram]

Any one ever seen a parrot that has fallen from a perch it has chewed through, if you want to prevent this make sure your perch is unchewable

 

[Entropy]

Crackpots come from Pottery Barn, obviously.

My mom and dad shop there! That makes me a crackpot offspring! I never though my genes were the reason behind my arrogance...

 

[Chi Meson]

Any one ever seen a parrot that has fallen from a perch it has chewed through, if you want to prevent this make sure your perch is unchewable

mmmruff rfflrrrph. Thrfl flrmf flf glrmff rphlrmf. *pleh!* the stuffing makes my mouth too dry. Definately unchewable, but now it's all shred up. But I guess I won't fall!

 

[3trQN]

Thousands?

I think some people get hooked on one way of thinking and can't let it go. Eventually they abandon rational thought in order to preserve their belief system.

In his later years, was Pascal a crackpot, or did he simply see the light?

Oh that's deep :P

 

[neptune2006]

The hafnium bomb debacle is now a whole book released this month,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258497/?tag=pfamazon01-20

By same author who wrote the the previously referenced article.

 

[chroot]

Some percentage of all people will eventually develop some form of mental illness, just like some percentage will eventually develop cancer. Mental illness can manifest itself in many forms. Some people simply start feel paranoid about leaving the light on in the garage, and start to go back to the garage thirty times an hour just to "make sure" it's off, for example.

There's nothing about PhD recipients that makes them immune to mental illness, and mental illnesses often severely distort one's prior world-view. It seems pretty likely that a scientist who develops schizophrenia while spending the majority of his/her waking life working on a project will incorporate much of that work into his/her symptoms.

On the other hand, the PhD-cum-crackpot is a much, much rarer breed than the legions of uneducated charlatans who have managed to convince themselves they're the next Einstein after havng read A Brief History of Time.

- Warren

 

[Pengwuino]

northern california

 

[zoobyshoe]

There's nothing about PhD recipients that makes them immune to mental illness, and mental illnesses often severely distort one's prior world-view. It seems pretty likely that a scientist who develops schizophrenia while spending the majority of his/her waking life working on a project will incorporate much of that work into his/her symptoms.

Good observation.

On the other hand, the PhD-cum-crackpot is a much, much rarer breed than the legions of uneducated charlatans who have managed to convince themselves they're the next Einstein after havng read A Brief History of Time.

It occurs to me as I read this that for thousands of years crackpots ruled the roost in physics from the time of Aristotle to Galileo and his immediate predecessors. The kinds of questions asked in physics are, and have always been, extremely attractive to overly speculative people.

Maybe a better question would be: where did the clear thinkers come from all of a sudden 500 or so years ago?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Having all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas are fine when your uneducated, but when your educated and you have all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas it could be harmful to you and your peers I guess.

For example I like to ask questions that reveal my ignorance and then postualte on them, then someone says 'shut up your talking guff and here's why' and then I learn that I am a crackpot, then I start to think less like a crackpot and am thankful I brought the subject up.

Your theory is crazy but not crazy enough to be true.

Niels Bohr.

Wait until it's so crazy that it just so happens to fit physics laws perfectly then reveal it I guess