did you miss the bit where I said: > Are all experts in agreement on virtual particles? If not, which are we meant to 'follow'? ? the person I was responding

did you miss the bit where I said: > Are all experts in agreement on virtual particles? If not, which are we meant to 'follow'? ? the person I was responding to picked out one particular expert's view "you can just tell them that Arkani-Hamed disagrees with you and that he is also smarter than you." aside from the silly "he is also smarter than you", just because one expert holds a view doesn't make it right. If all the experts were unanimous, and the particular point had been well tested, then a point like yours would hold. Also, the comment I was responding to was assuming that no-one on HN has a relevant background for having a solid opinion on virtual particles. I certainly don't, but I would not make that assumption about everyone on this forum. I don't agree with the notion that just because someone has a high status in a field that this automatically makes their opinions superior to other people in that field.