Wacky Fun Physics Ideas
(scottlocklin.wordpress.com)39 points by surprisetalk 4 days ago
39 points by surprisetalk 4 days ago
My favourite "wacky theory" is that Einstein general relativity can be derived from quantum computing, https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0501135.
In general, I love such novel concepts (rather than slight refinements of existing). They are like seeds - the vast majority of them won't sprout, but one in a thousand (or million) will change a field.
The same way as one erroneous paper on superluminal communication got refuted by the non-cloning theorem - which gave raise to quantum cryptography and quantum information in general. I recommend reading the backstory in "How the Hippies Saved Physics" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Hippies_Saved_Physics).
I don’t know how much of this paper I can understand but
I find it pretty interesting that, AFAICT, the dominant engineering paradigm of an era is also the dominant “this is what reality is” metaphor: cathedrals and architecture and the spheres; steam and clockwork and mechanical; now - computation and information!
Yes, we seek for analogies we can make.
Einstein was focused on synchronising clocks - as it was a thing in Switzerland at time. Vide https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160901-the-clock-that-c....
Scott Locklin is one of my favorite reads, in occasional doses though. Kind of unhinged-seeming but always some perspective that seems fresh.
He's like Casey Handmer turned up to 11, and throw in a use of the word "retarded" in pretty much every post which surely is some repellent just to make certain types of people go away.
Actually I'm not sure I really get anything out of reading either of them but they provide some enjoyment and glimpse of a possible future.
The base tone of the post is written for chronically online right-wingers, the dog whistles are really obvious.
"Purple hair", "retarded", "media bad", "post 1945 order".
The electron-as-trapped photon model goes back a ways, to at least Roger Jennison (one of my old profs):
"What is an electron?": http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Qua...
More recently, Larry Reed has developed a theory very similar to that mentioned in the article:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364333320_Quantum_W...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390318893_Origin_of...