6 ms·

Eric Weinstein may have found the answer to physics' biggest problems

32 points by misiti3780 7y ago

java-man 7y ago
This looks rather interesting. Could someone working in this field comment on this theory?
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  Article was published in 2013. I haven't heard much about this since, so I'm going to guess that it didn't turn out to be the answer. (Or at least, it has not yet shown itself to be superior to mainstream theories.)
  - kingkongjaffa 7y ago
    Joseph Conlon of the University of Oxford stated that some of these particles, if they existed, would already have been detected in existing accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.[12] > sounds like a hack to me. Few physicists attended and no preprint, paper, or equations were published.[13] Weinstein's ideas were not widely debated. The few that did engage expressed skepticism.[12][14] They were unable to debate more intensely due to the fact that there was no published paper.[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Weinstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Weinstein
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      I don't know where you got "sounds like a hack to me", but you're not quoting my parent comment.
  - loceng 7y ago
    Eric Weinstein on April 2nd posted the lecture to his YouTube channel + at the end of video he goes over to clarify some details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg
samizdis 7y ago
Aw, at least mention that this is an article from 2013. I'd been looking to a follow-up from something recent re the Wolfram stuff, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22866284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22866284
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
This says that the "first generation" of particles includes the quarks. That is, just as the electron has the muon and the tau as related but heavier particles, the quarks also have such particles. Do such particles exist? I had thought that the six (plus their antiparticles) were all there are.
- wnoise 7y ago
  I thought the six were three generations of two (well, four with antiparticles).
mikelyons 7y ago
He just recently explained this on Lex Fridman's podcast and JRE
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
leepowers 7y ago
About that: Hosting a lecture in a university physics department [Oxford] without inviting any physicists is, at best, an unforgivable oversight. As my colleague Subir Sarkar put it, “It’s surprising that the organisers did not invite the particle physicists to attend – if indeed the intention was to have a discussion.”[1] If the theory is to be anything but a dalliance he really needs to engage in conversation. Weinstein may be right, or his ideas may very well stimulate other ideas in the field. But the hard work of debate and discovery comes first, afterwards the headlines. [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23595-weinsteins-theory-of-everything-is-probably-nothing/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23595-weinsteins-theo...
- noetic_techy 7y ago
  The article hints to a correction that was ommitted and the letter it links to is a dead link. I highly doubt he didn't "invite anyone from the physics dept". Listen to Eric's podcast and you will come to realize that his relationship with mainstream physics dept is much more complex and nuanced.
atombender 7y ago
(2013)
loceng 7y ago
Eric Weinstein on April 2nd posted the lecture to his YouTube channel + at the end of video he goes over to clarify some details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg I'd recommend his The Portal video podcast series as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/nobani88/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/nobani88/videos Two other recent interviews he did with Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZJNe7YtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZJNe7YtE and Joe Rogan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0_nMaQ6tA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0_nMaQ6tA
noetic_techy 7y ago
As a physics major myself, I'm a huge fan or Eric's work and his new podcast. I think his critic of mainstream string theory and the general malaise of theoretical physics dept globally is spot on. String theory is a dead theory in denial of its failings and lack of experimental evidence for 30 years now. The podcast he did with his "arch nemesis" who had a similar but competing theory was excellent. It shows he is not living in bubble.

32 points by misiti3780 7y ago

java-man 7y ago

This looks rather interesting. Could someone working in this field comment on this theory?

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
Article was published in 2013. I haven't heard much about this since, so I'm going to guess that it didn't turn out to be the answer. (Or at least, it has not yet shown itself to be superior to mainstream theories.)
- kingkongjaffa 7y ago
  Joseph Conlon of the University of Oxford stated that some of these particles, if they existed, would already have been detected in existing accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.[12] > sounds like a hack to me. Few physicists attended and no preprint, paper, or equations were published.[13] Weinstein's ideas were not widely debated. The few that did engage expressed skepticism.[12][14] They were unable to debate more intensely due to the fact that there was no published paper.[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Weinstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Weinstein
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    I don't know where you got "sounds like a hack to me", but you're not quoting my parent comment.
- loceng 7y ago
  Eric Weinstein on April 2nd posted the lecture to his YouTube channel + at the end of video he goes over to clarify some details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg

samizdis 7y ago

Aw, at least mention that this is an article from 2013. I'd been looking to a follow-up from something recent re the Wolfram stuff, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22866284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22866284

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

This says that the "first generation" of particles includes the quarks. That is, just as the electron has the muon and the tau as related but heavier particles, the quarks also have such particles. Do such particles exist? I had thought that the six (plus their antiparticles) were all there are.

wnoise 7y ago
I thought the six were three generations of two (well, four with antiparticles).

mikelyons 7y ago

He just recently explained this on Lex Fridman's podcast and JRE

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

leepowers 7y ago

About that: Hosting a lecture in a university physics department [Oxford] without inviting any physicists is, at best, an unforgivable oversight. As my colleague Subir Sarkar put it, “It’s surprising that the organisers did not invite the particle physicists to attend – if indeed the intention was to have a discussion.”[1] If the theory is to be anything but a dalliance he really needs to engage in conversation. Weinstein may be right, or his ideas may very well stimulate other ideas in the field. But the hard work of debate and discovery comes first, afterwards the headlines. [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23595-weinsteins-theory-of-everything-is-probably-nothing/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23595-weinsteins-theo...

noetic_techy 7y ago
The article hints to a correction that was ommitted and the letter it links to is a dead link. I highly doubt he didn't "invite anyone from the physics dept". Listen to Eric's podcast and you will come to realize that his relationship with mainstream physics dept is much more complex and nuanced.

atombender 7y ago

(2013)

loceng 7y ago

Eric Weinstein on April 2nd posted the lecture to his YouTube channel + at the end of video he goes over to clarify some details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg I'd recommend his The Portal video podcast series as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/nobani88/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/nobani88/videos Two other recent interviews he did with Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZJNe7YtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZJNe7YtE and Joe Rogan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0_nMaQ6tA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0_nMaQ6tA

noetic_techy 7y ago

As a physics major myself, I'm a huge fan or Eric's work and his new podcast. I think his critic of mainstream string theory and the general malaise of theoretical physics dept globally is spot on. String theory is a dead theory in denial of its failings and lack of experimental evidence for 30 years now. The podcast he did with his "arch nemesis" who had a similar but competing theory was excellent. It shows he is not living in bubble.