Re: Peter finally calls out Garrett Lisi/Smolin on his awesome blog: Is Big Physics peddling science pornography? LHC will pave way for MDT
  Home FAQ Contact Sign in
alt.philosophy only
 
Advanced search
POPULAR GROUPS

more...

 Up
Re: Peter finally calls out Garrett Lisi/Smolin on his awesome blog: Is Big Physics peddling science pornography? LHC will pave way for MDT         

Group: alt.philosophy · Group Profile
Author: luke.saul
Date: Feb 11, 2008 13:28

On Feb 11, 5:19 am, rangermc...@gmail.com wrote:
> http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=651#comments
>
> Great post.
>
> Lee Smolin's fantastic hype got Lisi listed as the next Einstein.
> Awesome. The trouble with physics--the rise of string theory, the
> fall of science, and what comes next--big physics pornography.
>
> Eric writes on Peter's blog, "Eric Says:
>
> February 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
> What's really sad is that Discover magazine has a special issue this
> month devoted to Einstein. One article in the magazine is a listing of
> the `next Einstein'. Number one is the famous surfing, independent
> physicist who just `published' a paper. Ed Witten is listed as number
> six. This is really deplorable." --http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/
> wordpress/?p=651#comments
>
> You can read more about Garrett Lisi's theory, funded by FQXI (where
> Smolin sits on the advisory panel) and heavily promoted by Smolin and
> people associated with Smolin's $100-million+ "Big Physics" PI:
>
> http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/archives/001505.htmlhttp://cosmicvariance.../
> (amazing--these are our best and brightest)https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=26325744&postID=400768610321...
>
> After the LHC dispels all the "Big Physics" hype, the path will be
> clear for MDT:
>
> Moving Dimensions Theory's Postulate: The fourth dimension is
> expanding relative to the three spatial diemensions.
>
> dx4/dt = ic
>
> http://physicsmathforums.com
>
> The Curious Nature of the Photon, Einstein's Annus Mirabilis,
> and Moving Dimensions Theory
>
> As the contemplation of the photon lead to both quantum mechanics and
> relativity, let us also begin by contemplating the photon. Einstein's
> revolutionary 1905 papers included one devoted to the photoelectric
> effect-the quantized nature of the photon, and another devoted to the
> electrodynamics of moving bodies-electromagnetic radiation,
> relativity, and the wave properties of the photon. Another paper
> discussed statistical mechanics in the form of Brownian Motion, and
> the final paper commented on the equivalence of mass and energy, as
> denoted with his famous equation, E=mc2. Moving Dimensions Theory
> underlies and unifies all of Einstein's 1905 papers with its simple
> postulate-the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three
> spatial dimensions.
> Picture the emission of a photon in free space. Once second later, the
> photon has equal probability of being found anywhere upon a sphere
> with a radius of 186,000 miles, as c, the velocity of light, equals
> 186,000 miles per second. If we covered the surface of the sphere with
> detectors, one, and only one, would click. And the photon, although
> traveling 186,000 miles through space, will not have aged one iota,
> for time stops at the speed of light. The photon will have traveled
> 186,000 miles through the three spatial dimensions, and yet it will
> not have moved one iota in the fourth dimension. And there lies our
> first clue to moving dimensions theory. For how can a photon propagate
> 186,000 in the three spatial dimensions, and yet not budge an inch in
> the fourth dimension, unless that fourth dimension is expanding? Ergo,
> the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial
> dimensions.

Hmm.. hasn't the photon actually moved 186,000 miles in the fourth
dimension? One second has passed. Also, the photon didn't pass
186,000 miles in the three spatial dimensions, it only travelled that
far in one direction. It didn't move at all in orthogonal directions.

Not to mention that no single emission - single detection experiment
has ever been done with a photon so it's not clear photons even work
that way.
> Consider two interacting photons that propagate in opposite
> directions. One second later, each photon's polarization is measured
> at detectors separated by 372,000 miles. According to the laws of
> quantum mechanics and numerous supporting experiments, the measurement
> at one detector instantaneously affects the measurement at the second
> detector. It is as if the photons are yet side-by-side for all intents
> and purposes. This "spooky action at a distance," as Einstein called
> it, is not so spooky in the context of moving dimensions theory, for
> MDT states that although separated by 372,000 miles, the photons are
> yet in the exact same place in the fourth dimension, as the fourth
> dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions. So it
> is that quantum phenomena on the photonic level, as well as
> relativistic phenomena on the photonic level, are both accounted for
> with simple elegance via MDT: the fourth dimension is expanding
> relative to the three spatial dimensions.

This kind of nonsense will get you a long way with idiots. Well,
maybe there's some math behind this somewhere so I won't speak too
soon - don't judge a book by its cover.
> Another paper Einstein penned in 1905 was devoted to Brownian Motion
> and statistical mechanics. Drop a thimbleful of food coloring in a
> pool. The laws of statistical mechanics dictate that it will spread
> out throughout the entire pool, and never again reassemble in a
> localized region. That everything tends towards random disorder is a
> fundamental law of physics, and too, it can be accounted for by moving
> dimensions theory.

Well Einstein's paper in question had nothing to do with entropy but
lets move on.
> As the fundamental motion of the universe is the
> expansion of the fourth dimension relative to the three spatial
> dimensions, two photons originating from a common origin will harbor a
> vast probability of being found at great distances from one another
> one second later-distances far greater than the distance that
> separates them at their emission. This is because each one has an
> equal probability of being found anywhere upon the surface of a
> spherically-symmetric wave front of probability, corresponding to the
> wave front of the fourth expanding dimension. Recall our system of
> detectors placed everywhere through the surface of a sphere with a
> radius of 186,000 miles-each photon has an equal chance of being found
> at any detector after one second, and chances are that the detectors
> will be farther apart than the distance of 0 that defines the photon's
> common origin. Hence entropy. Entropy arises because the fourth
> dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions. All
> particles undergoing thermal vibrations interact with photons, and all
> photons reside in the fourth expanding dimension, dragging all of
> entirety into random disorder.

Would "expanding space" supply the above argument? What's wrong with
Boltzmann's explanation?
> Yet another paper published by Einstein in his "Miraculous Year" (anna
> mirabilis), was devoted to the equivalence of mass and energy. Think
> about the fascinating physical reality implied by E=mc2. A kilogram of
> gold or lead or feathers sitting on a desktop is the same thing as
> 9x1016 joules of energy-an exorbitant amount of energy-enough to
> power, or to destroy, a major city. How is it that a stationary mass
> possesses such a great energy? It is because the mass, which is
> stationary in the three spatial dimensions, is yet propagating through
> the fourth dimension at the rate of c. This is because the fourth
> dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions, and
> matter trapped in the fourth expanding dimension appears at photons.
> Furthermore, as noted earlier, the photons will propagate at the rate
> of c through the three spatial dimensions, and yet they will never age-
> they will stay in a fixed place in the fourth expanding dimension. The
> primary invariant is c-all matter and/or photons-be it propagating
> through space or time, or some combination thereof, always, always
> moves at the rate of c. To be stationary in space means to propagate
> at the rate of c through time. To be stationary in time means to
> propagate at the rate of c through space. This is because the fourth
> dimension is expanding at the rate of c relative to the three spatial
> dimensions. Most objects share motion between space and time, but the
> overall velocity of propagation through space-time is fixed at c-this
> primary invariance can never change.

OK so let's say that a stationary mass is really moving at the speed
of light.
Doesn't that give it.. infinite energy? Even in classical dynamics,
the energy is
1/2 mc^2 instead of mc^2.

Cheers -
no comments
diggit! del.icio.us! reddit!