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It's strange that physicist are so unwilling to explore radically different theories. Our understanding of particle physics is less than a century old. The theo
by dexwiz 10y ago
It's strange that physicist are so unwilling to explore radically different theories. Our understanding of particle physics is less than a century old. The theory of phlogiston, which was unequivocally wrong, last longer.
Naturalness probably spawns from mathematical constants, most of which are around 1. [1] This also assumes the dimensional analysis is correct, or that certain values are not derived.
Also, have all of the easy physic experiments been done? Seems like physics is only being explored at high energies in expensive set-ups. Some of the biggest discoveries of 100 years ago were done with relatively cheap set-ups, see the Gold Foil Experiment.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_constants_and_functions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_constants_and_fun...
- epistasis 10y agoI'm not sure that they're unwilling at all. String theory, etc, is radically different and perhaps so radically different that its not even pursuing. If you have any ideas for easy, novel physics experiments, please dive in. But after 100 years of lots and lots and lots of people playing around, most of what people can imagine has been done. If there's going to be something new, it's going to be radically different, most likely, with entirely new areas of physics, not some refinement of existing theory. If "physics" were a newly discovered continent, there's a good chance that we've discovered most of what's on the surface. There's still exploration, I think. I'm not a physicist by any means, but it seems that things like condensed matter physics are plowing ahead in new areas, away from the "surface of the continent," if you will allow me to continue the metaphor. But if you're starting with the physics that you learn as an undergrad taking engineering and what you get from newspapers, those branches seem pretty well capped off for the foreseeable future. Better to go to new areas that still have millions of discoveries waiting, like biology or other complex systems.
- selimthegrim 10y agoDynamical systems (and by extension classical mechanics) is far from a completely understood field - especially nonlinear dynamics.
- yk 10y agoWell, in principle physicists would be more than happy to explore radically different theories. But the thing is, physicists tend to worry if a effect is observable. So a alternative theory needs to be compatible with all experiments that have been done until today, and second it needs to predict an effect that is observable within current experimental ability. (Or an effect that is close.) There is today just not something radically different aviable, which passes these two tests.