Re: layman: general interest in physics, relativity and quantum mechanics

Ehhmm..., no that was not really what I was looking for :)
But thanks for the advice, as I wrote I have never before been into these
newsgroups but I will sure keep an extra eye open when people reply now.


<surrealistic-dream@xxxxxxxxxxx> skrev i melding
news:1142095078.286555.62810@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Peter wrote:
Hi,

First, I am new to newsgroups, so please give me a bit credit when i do
things wrong...
Second, I am (as the subject says) generally interested in both classical
and modern physics. But it has been a couple of years ago since i was in
high school, and even there I was at the time more interested in other
things than math and physics.
But now, after reading a few books like 'The elegant universe' and 'The
fabric of the cosmos...' I am starting to become fascinated by it.
I was wondering if there are people here who are at the same 'level' as
me,
and feel like beginning a correspondence or something to help eachother
and
find out more?
Maybe it is an idea to start a study/discussion group?
Anyways... just drop a note if this sounds interesting
"Two heads think better than one"

Peter

Peter, what you suggest seems like a good idea, but it is really not.
Newsgroups attract troubled people with hidden agendas, jealousies,
insecurities, phobias, intolerances, bigotries, frustrations, and
serious neuroses. You can't know who will genuinely help you or hinder
you at this point. Do you really want to subject yourself to personal
libelous abuse from people who are no longer taking their psychotropic
meds against their doctor's orders? Not to mention those who see
themselves as God's only true voice on earth for what is true in
physics and reality! Think about it.

I'll give an example. Suppose you make a post asking a "harmless"
question about radioactive decay and quantum mechanics. But what
replies will you get? (The following answer is a somewhat
tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, where the numbers are made up but the
sentiments are not.) Three telling you you're an idiot for believing in
quantum mechanics in the first place. Twelve telling you that the
physics establishment is a huge conspiracy to protect the status quo.
Four telling you that Einstein and Heisenberg are the source of all
evil in modern physics, and that Newton rules. Two will tell you that
there is no such thing as radioactive decay, and that this was
discovered decades ago by the physics community, but hidden from the
public to suppress the scandal of the century. Two will tell you that
radioactive decay is the lie of evolutionists who, in secret league
with the relativists, want to cover up God's revealed truth of
creationism. The thread you started will quickly degenerate to
subthreads devoted to crankish pet theories, bombastic attacks against
"abstract mathematics," and other anti-establishment rhetoric -- from
the bizarre to the incomprehensible to the insane.

So, what are the agendas here? First, the conventional one: To promote
the standard viewpoints held by most physicists. But this is the
minority here. Most posters here reject that. They hold to a number of
"alternative" viewpoints:

1) Relativity and quantum mechanics are the delusion of the devil
designed to take people to hell, literally.

2) The standard theories in modern physics are faulty, mostly because
they do not employ easy-to-understand mechanical models, full
causality, and "physical reasoning" (whatever that means). And there
are those here who want to tell you about their personal pet theory
that will one day replace relativity and quantum mechanics.

3) Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, and Lorentz are the only physicists anyone
should read. Anything done by anyone else is of the devil.

4) A few post here for pure entertainment, not for the advance of
knowledge or ideas per se. Some of them get a kick out of bullying,
name calling, and defaming others and boost their own egos in the
process. To some of that crowd, posting is just a lurid sport that has
the entertainment value that anyone who enjoys a cockfight or a snuff
film would appreciate. One wonders if the reincarnation of Caligula
posts here.

5) Abstract mathematics is of the devil.

So, do you really want to get involved in all this roman collesium
physics? And I haven't even mentioned the great diversity of views on
the side of the isle representing the more or less conventional
physics!

My advice to you is to go to your nearest university and get to know an
amicable physics grad student and let him or her answer your questions.



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