6 ms·

Remembering Freeman Dyson

51 points by Hooke 7y ago

ggm 7y ago
Dyson’s imagination ventured far beyond physics. In the latter part of his career, he brought an unconventional perspective to the life sciences. This often landed him in trouble with leading experts, notably when he repeatedly dismissed computer models of the Earth’s climate and the growing consensus that climate change was a crisis for humanity.
- chrisco255 7y ago
  He was an expert as much as anyone. From his wiki: "Around 1979 Dyson worked with the Institute for Energy Analysis on climate studies. This group, under Alvin Weinberg's direction, pioneered multidisciplinary climate studies, including a strong biology group. Also during the 1970s, Dyson worked on climate studies conducted by the JASON defense advisory group.[26]" He held the view that CO2 was mostly beneficial to the biosphere and that anthropogenic warming was much milder than has been estimated. You can watch his interview on the subject of you're curious. He explains his position quite coherently: https://youtu.be/BiKfWdXXfIs https://youtu.be/BiKfWdXXfIs
  - justin66 7y ago
    > He was an expert as much as anyone. Did he ever make that claim for himself? I certainly remember him saying the opposite.
    - chrisco255 7y ago
      Dyson was a rather self-deprecating genius.
  - ggm 7y ago
    Do you think his position was tenable 30 years later?
    - chrisco255 7y ago
      Yes, as the interview I linked to was from 2015. Observations from satellites have proven true with regards to CO2's effect on photosynthesis and greening the planet: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth/ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fer...
      - dwaltrip 7y ago
        Do you think that the other, more important part of the statement has held up? That "anthropogenic warming was much milder than has been estimated"? You seem to accept NASA as a source, so here's this: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-models-are-getting-future-warming-projections-right/ https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-mo...
- epistasis 7y ago
  Ultimately this is the most important problem of our time, and not only did he not take it seriously, he trivialized it and then got the wrong answer without bothering to understand what he was dismissing. It's amazing how strong politics is in our brains; it can override all sorts of rationality. Fisher was a great statistician, but among many other inexcusable mistakes, he tried desperately to prove that smoking did not cause cancer. He wrote all sorts of junk science down that road. I think we will think of Dyson in similar ways in the future, but I'm not sure if the concepts that Dyson invented will be as long lasting as Fisher's.
  - dntbnmpls 7y ago
    > Ultimately this is the most important problem of our time, and not only did he not take it seriously, he trivialized it and then got the wrong answer without bothering to understand what he was dismissing. Maybe he understood it far better than you or that internet creator Al Gore and his buddy Leonardo DiCaprio? > It's amazing how strong politics is in our brains; it can override all sorts of rationality. Indeed. The way one group clings to a political agenda with religious zeal and demands no one question it is quite astonishing. > I think we will think of Dyson in similar ways in the future, but I'm not sure if the concepts that Dyson invented will be as long lasting as Fisher's. This is why so many people despise the global warming zealots. The absolute pettiness. A better analogy would be the global warming "pro-science" zealots today with the eugenics "pro-science" zealots 100 years ago. 100 years ago, you'd be raising the alarm of how "inferior" races were a threat to humanity and demand eugenics/genocide/etc - all supported by "science" of course. The world didn't end like the zealots of 100 years ago predicted. And in 100 years, people are going to laugh at people like you like we laugh at eugenicists/nazis/etc today. And 100 years from now, people would still know Dyson. When "science" and politics get mixed, it isn't a good thing. Especially when it involves mindless zealotry.
PopeDotNinja 7y ago
I didn't know much about him before he died. I've been watching some interviews he gave on YouTube. Very interesting dude.
BeetleB 7y ago
> Most famously, he classified leading physicists and mathematicians as either birds or frogs. For him, Einstein was the archetypal bird—flying high, surveying broad vistas out to the horizon—while Dyson regarded himself as a frog, hopping from one problem to another. He allowed few exceptions to his categories, but he did concede that his friend Richard Feynman was “a frog who wanted to be a bird.” In case anyone wants to read his essay: https://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200212p.pdf https://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200212p.pdf
alphanumeric0 7y ago
https://youtu.be/vL00KEB1H50 https://youtu.be/vL00KEB1H50 - Freeman Dyson's theory of the origin of life, as explained by him.
idclip 7y ago
His name was Freeman Dyson

51 points by Hooke 7y ago

ggm 7y ago

Dyson’s imagination ventured far beyond physics. In the latter part of his career, he brought an unconventional perspective to the life sciences. This often landed him in trouble with leading experts, notably when he repeatedly dismissed computer models of the Earth’s climate and the growing consensus that climate change was a crisis for humanity.

chrisco255 7y ago
He was an expert as much as anyone. From his wiki: "Around 1979 Dyson worked with the Institute for Energy Analysis on climate studies. This group, under Alvin Weinberg's direction, pioneered multidisciplinary climate studies, including a strong biology group. Also during the 1970s, Dyson worked on climate studies conducted by the JASON defense advisory group.[26]" He held the view that CO2 was mostly beneficial to the biosphere and that anthropogenic warming was much milder than has been estimated. You can watch his interview on the subject of you're curious. He explains his position quite coherently: https://youtu.be/BiKfWdXXfIs https://youtu.be/BiKfWdXXfIs
- justin66 7y ago
  > He was an expert as much as anyone. Did he ever make that claim for himself? I certainly remember him saying the opposite.
  - chrisco255 7y ago
    Dyson was a rather self-deprecating genius.
- ggm 7y ago
  Do you think his position was tenable 30 years later?
  - chrisco255 7y ago
    Yes, as the interview I linked to was from 2015. Observations from satellites have proven true with regards to CO2's effect on photosynthesis and greening the planet: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth/ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fer...
    - dwaltrip 7y ago
      Do you think that the other, more important part of the statement has held up? That "anthropogenic warming was much milder than has been estimated"? You seem to accept NASA as a source, so here's this: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-models-are-getting-future-warming-projections-right/ https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-mo...
epistasis 7y ago
Ultimately this is the most important problem of our time, and not only did he not take it seriously, he trivialized it and then got the wrong answer without bothering to understand what he was dismissing. It's amazing how strong politics is in our brains; it can override all sorts of rationality. Fisher was a great statistician, but among many other inexcusable mistakes, he tried desperately to prove that smoking did not cause cancer. He wrote all sorts of junk science down that road. I think we will think of Dyson in similar ways in the future, but I'm not sure if the concepts that Dyson invented will be as long lasting as Fisher's.
- dntbnmpls 7y ago
  > Ultimately this is the most important problem of our time, and not only did he not take it seriously, he trivialized it and then got the wrong answer without bothering to understand what he was dismissing. Maybe he understood it far better than you or that internet creator Al Gore and his buddy Leonardo DiCaprio? > It's amazing how strong politics is in our brains; it can override all sorts of rationality. Indeed. The way one group clings to a political agenda with religious zeal and demands no one question it is quite astonishing. > I think we will think of Dyson in similar ways in the future, but I'm not sure if the concepts that Dyson invented will be as long lasting as Fisher's. This is why so many people despise the global warming zealots. The absolute pettiness. A better analogy would be the global warming "pro-science" zealots today with the eugenics "pro-science" zealots 100 years ago. 100 years ago, you'd be raising the alarm of how "inferior" races were a threat to humanity and demand eugenics/genocide/etc - all supported by "science" of course. The world didn't end like the zealots of 100 years ago predicted. And in 100 years, people are going to laugh at people like you like we laugh at eugenicists/nazis/etc today. And 100 years from now, people would still know Dyson. When "science" and politics get mixed, it isn't a good thing. Especially when it involves mindless zealotry.

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

I didn't know much about him before he died. I've been watching some interviews he gave on YouTube. Very interesting dude.

BeetleB 7y ago

> Most famously, he classified leading physicists and mathematicians as either birds or frogs. For him, Einstein was the archetypal bird—flying high, surveying broad vistas out to the horizon—while Dyson regarded himself as a frog, hopping from one problem to another. He allowed few exceptions to his categories, but he did concede that his friend Richard Feynman was “a frog who wanted to be a bird.” In case anyone wants to read his essay: https://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200212p.pdf https://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200212p.pdf

alphanumeric0 7y ago

https://youtu.be/vL00KEB1H50 https://youtu.be/vL00KEB1H50 - Freeman Dyson's theory of the origin of life, as explained by him.

idclip 7y ago

His name was Freeman Dyson