Wacky Fun Physics Ideas | Hacker News Reader

Wacky Fun Physics Ideas

scottlocklin.wordpress.com

39 pointssurprisetalk11 comments

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The electron-as-trapped photon model goes back a ways, to at least Roger Jennison (one of my old profs):

"What is an electron?": http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Qua...

More recently, Larry Reed has developed a theory very similar to that mentioned in the article:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364333320_Quantum_W...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390318893_Origin_of...

My favourite "wacky theory" is that Einstein general relativity can be derived from quantum computing, https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0501135.

In general, I love such novel concepts (rather than slight refinements of existing). They are like seeds - the vast majority of them won't sprout, but one in a thousand (or million) will change a field.

The same way as one erroneous paper on superluminal communication got refuted by the non-cloning theorem - which gave raise to quantum cryptography and quantum information in general. I recommend reading the backstory in "How the Hippies Saved Physics" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Hippies_Saved_Physics).

I don’t know how much of this paper I can understand but

I find it pretty interesting that, AFAICT, the dominant engineering paradigm of an era is also the dominant “this is what reality is” metaphor: cathedrals and architecture and the spheres; steam and clockwork and mechanical; now - computation and information!

Yes, we seek for analogies we can make.

Einstein was focused on synchronising clocks - as it was a thing in Switzerland at time. Vide https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160901-the-clock-that-c....

Um, that's an overstatement. He was also "focused" on making refrigerators - he owned a patent on a novel system, but was foiled by the near-simultaneous discovery of better non-toxic refrigerant liquids.

If one were to simply assume that yes, electrons are in fact photons in a toroidal configuration... are there special "hacks" enabled by this configuration which could be tested?

Scott Locklin is one of my favorite reads, in occasional doses though. Kind of unhinged-seeming but always some perspective that seems fresh.

He's like Casey Handmer turned up to 11, and throw in a use of the word "retarded" in pretty much every post which surely is some repellent just to make certain types of people go away.

Actually I'm not sure I really get anything out of reading either of them but they provide some enjoyment and glimpse of a possible future.

One of the most fascinating characters out there for sure, without fail his posts make me consider a new perspective.

He left HN unfortunately, he might be too brash for this site (or this place is too wimpy for him).

Or, you know, the community might just not like people who are deliberately a-holes to others.

Hit this quote from the author in the Comments section:

> This is the same psychology that causes experimental physicists to wear paper covid-cuck masks[...]

The Never Read The Comments Rule still applies. "Wacky" is one word for his ideas...

The base tone of the post is written for chronically online right-wingers, the dog whistles are really obvious.

"Purple hair", "retarded", "media bad", "post 1945 order".

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