3 ms·

Yep! Congratulations to the field of physics as a whole for having a substantially better grasp on... call it, "completing the pattern of reality"... than I th

by Eliezer 14y ago

Yep! Congratulations to the field of physics as a whole for having a substantially better grasp on... call it, "completing the pattern of reality"... than I thought it did. My credence in dark matter and dark energy is also substantially increased.

sinak 14y ago
I remember having a conversation with Peter Thiel at the Singularity Summit in 2009 where he expressed a pretty strong opinion that humanity seriously pursuing advances in theoretical Physics was a momentous waste of brain power. At the time I was a relatively recent Physics graduate, I wasn't too pleased to hear that. I wonder if his opinion on this has changed at all. Anyway, nice to have you here Eliezer ... like the commenter below, I'm a massive Methods of Rationality fan too :).
- scrame 14y ago
  Yeah, Peter Thiel also thinks college is a waste of time, because you could be working at making a bunch of money instead. The fact of the matter is, without the continuous research and application of this type of "momentous waste of brain power", we wouldn't have the accessible and affordable technology to enable his wealth and position where people think they should give a shit what he thinks about science.
  - Eliezer 14y ago
    Peter Thiel doesn't think Einstein was wasting his time, and isn't expressing disapprobation of physics or science; he's expressing disapprobation of modern physics-academia, and the presumption that the thing to do with your genius is obviously string theory.
- raverbashing 14y ago
  Well, maybe what would be easier is to waste massive amounts of brain power in building computers that can solve the most complicated issues in theoretical physics But of course, for theoretical physics to advance, experimental physics has to advance as well...
- johnchristopher 14y ago
  I am curious to know about his arguments. Do you remember them ?
  - dasil003 14y ago
    With all that brainpower they could almost certainly crack the Facebook monetization problem, because all that data has got to be worth something. Theoretical Physics? Well that will never break him into the 11 figures no matter how many bosons they discover.

by Eliezer 14y ago

sinak 14y ago

I remember having a conversation with Peter Thiel at the Singularity Summit in 2009 where he expressed a pretty strong opinion that humanity seriously pursuing advances in theoretical Physics was a momentous waste of brain power. At the time I was a relatively recent Physics graduate, I wasn't too pleased to hear that. I wonder if his opinion on this has changed at all. Anyway, nice to have you here Eliezer ... like the commenter below, I'm a massive Methods of Rationality fan too :).

scrame 14y ago
Yeah, Peter Thiel also thinks college is a waste of time, because you could be working at making a bunch of money instead. The fact of the matter is, without the continuous research and application of this type of "momentous waste of brain power", we wouldn't have the accessible and affordable technology to enable his wealth and position where people think they should give a shit what he thinks about science.
- Eliezer 14y ago
  Peter Thiel doesn't think Einstein was wasting his time, and isn't expressing disapprobation of physics or science; he's expressing disapprobation of modern physics-academia, and the presumption that the thing to do with your genius is obviously string theory.
raverbashing 14y ago
Well, maybe what would be easier is to waste massive amounts of brain power in building computers that can solve the most complicated issues in theoretical physics But of course, for theoretical physics to advance, experimental physics has to advance as well...
johnchristopher 14y ago
I am curious to know about his arguments. Do you remember them ?
- dasil003 14y ago
  With all that brainpower they could almost certainly crack the Facebook monetization problem, because all that data has got to be worth something. Theoretical Physics? Well that will never break him into the 11 figures no matter how many bosons they discover.