> or self-publishing books about new fundamental theories in physics that center around the mass ratio of the proton to the electron being exactly the square root of 3371456
That is oddly specific. Do you have a link to this book?
That is oddly specific. Do you have a link to this book?
It's a common trope for physics crackpots to try to find closed expressions for things like the fine structure constant, electron/proton mass ratio, etc. The latter is completely nonsensical today because the proton isn't an elementary particle.
I got thinking about the "crackpot physics" subject again because about two weeks ago there were a series of crackpot physics posts to Hacker News by a woman. It might be "You've come a long way baby" but I'd want to check that it isn't a trans woman before announcing that.
(... certainly you see more men than women in real physics but you have Emmy Noether, Lisa Randall, Elise Meitner, Vera Rubin. It's men who get the idea that they are 'very special' and have 'unique insights'.)
[1] https://web.mst.edu/~lmhall/whattodowhentrisectorcomes.pdf
I don't think narcissism is the issue here and I don't think women are less likely to fall for scams, just different kinds of scams.
"Narcissism" is "self-love" and it is a part of the psyche like the heart is part of your body. When people have trouble with their heart they could have high blood pressure, heart disease, heart failure, heart attacks, heart defects, arrhythmia, etc. So even disordered narcissism is more than one disease.
I just brushed my teeth and that's a healthy expression of narcissism.
A physics crackpot imagines that he is an underlooked genius, is "special". The one thing he knows about Al Einstein is that Einstein worked at the patent office, he doesn't know about the many scientists and mathematicians who Einstein worked with. That's unhealthy narcissism.
If somebody is thinking about having money for retirement I'd say narcissism is always involved because you have some conjecture/mental picture about yourself that is based on your self-image, hopes and fears.
It's good to have realistic and positive self-esteem but boy is it hollow, shallow and ineffective to try to paint it on because somebody told you should.
What great physicists have that crackpots lack is intelligence and/or diligence. I think it's mostly the latter, plenty of crackpots are smart. They just don't take the time to learn the math or study the centuries of prior art.
The real physicist publishes in journals like Physical Review E, the crackpot self-publishes books (or maybe) publishes in predatory journals that specialize in crackpot papers.
Crackpotism has nothing to do with science but with feelings of "I'm special", and it is right up there with taking LSD and thinking you are the Christ or the anti-Christ.
Chien-Shiung Wu!