To me this is the most important question in physics. Of course, interactions are exchanges of gauge bosons. But what is happening? How do the exchanges take place?
In the past weeks, I read everything I could find about this topic. A sobering experience that I can summarize thus: white, English-speaking men know nothing about the answer. And they are even afraid of speculating about it. Other humans do not write anything about it.
Wikipedia's article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction is funny: "fundamental interactions are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another". One has to be drunk to write such a definition.
Most researchers only say that interactions are "particle exchanges described by a gauge group". They speculate about various gauge groups, or about supersymmetry, or about BRST. But no one speculates about how interactions appear in the first place.
Established researchers do not explore the question. But why? They do not even speculate about it. Are they afraid? I only found the spaghetti model as candidate proposal. What a poor harvest. And of course, it is written by a white, English-speaking man. What about black women speaking Swahili? Or South-American women speaking Quechua? And what shall we do before they come along?
One friend told me about a possible background. She said that white men are so nasty among each other that anybody daring to speculate is not invited any more to talks, to committees or to conferences. "Speculators" are discarded from the academic community. They know it and they fear it. They behave among themselves in the same way that they behave towards students in examinations.
Men have organized modern physics in a way that speculation has become impossible. Progress is impossible in modern theoretical physics. Dear sisters, please come along!
2 December 2012
27 November 2012
Supersymmetry: what happens if you wish death to others
If you read this blog, you know that Lubos Motl has written offensive comments and wished my death in the comment section of this blog. If you known him, you also know that he wished death to most people who oppose his views, such as all those who say - in accordance with experiment - that supersymmetry is wrong. Like so many violent religious people, he sends death threats to everybody who tells the truth.
What happened then? Lubos Motl might have gotten a "deadly disease", as he writes in his blog. We can learn from his story that sending death threats to others works backwards. Possibly he will get the message from nature; he might become more tolerant to those who tell the truth.
By the way, Motl, string theory is also wrong.
What happened then? Lubos Motl might have gotten a "deadly disease", as he writes in his blog. We can learn from his story that sending death threats to others works backwards. Possibly he will get the message from nature; he might become more tolerant to those who tell the truth.
By the way, Motl, string theory is also wrong.
17 November 2012
Scandal at CERN - no Higgs confirmation
Tout pour la gloire. All for glory. This is what CERN did in July of this year, when it announced the Higgs discovery. But now that the confirmation was expected at the HCP conference, they did not provide it.
The data on the gamma-gamma channel is contradictory, it is rumored. Even though CERN has twice as much data at its disposal as in July, the corresponding results were not shown.
The problem with glory is that it must be based on facts. CERN has now let the whole world know that for them facts do not count, just the glory counts.
CERN was unable to confirm the existence of the Higgs measurements of July 2012. This is a scandalous situation. CERN has implicitly admitted that the July 2012 data was not reliable! If CERN does not act quickly, we will not believe anything of what they say anymore.
The data on the gamma-gamma channel is contradictory, it is rumored. Even though CERN has twice as much data at its disposal as in July, the corresponding results were not shown.
The problem with glory is that it must be based on facts. CERN has now let the whole world know that for them facts do not count, just the glory counts.
CERN was unable to confirm the existence of the Higgs measurements of July 2012. This is a scandalous situation. CERN has implicitly admitted that the July 2012 data was not reliable! If CERN does not act quickly, we will not believe anything of what they say anymore.
4 November 2012
6 billion dollars of R&D - more than for the iPhone
Look at http://arxiv.org/year/hep-th/11 and similar pages for other years. Then look at http://arxiv.org/year/hep-ph/11 and similar pages. There are now 8000 preprints on high energy particle physics per year.
My friend, a businesswoman working in a technology company, told me that a paper can be taken to mean 1/3 of a person year of effort, on average. Which makes a total of 2700 person-years. Let me correct this downwards to 2000 and multiply by 30. That makes 60 000 person-years of effort in the past 30 years. 60 000 person-years of effort and no result at all on unification. Could a statistics be more damning about the collective failure of particle physicists?
My business friend says that one person-year of research is worth more than 100 000 $. That makes the effort of the last 30 years worth more than $ 200 million a year, or $ 6 billion! (My friend says that interests would need to be included, which would triple the amount.)
6 billions wasted. My head is spinning. These physicists have wasted 6 billions and still did not succeed! My friend tells me that the worst R&D disaster she knew was the failed development of the Airbus 350 (first generation), which cost 2 billion and led to nothing.
3 times as bad as Airbus. That is damning. But wait, she said, there is another comparison: Not even the iPhone has this much of R&D effort inside it. And there are differences: the iPhone works. Unification does not. Plus: the iPhone satisfies a need and is useful to people, whereas unification ...
Help! What is going on here? We are feeding thousands of physicists who do not succeed? Since decades? They really give particle physics a bad name. Each of them. Unbelievable, isn't it?
My friend, a businesswoman working in a technology company, told me that a paper can be taken to mean 1/3 of a person year of effort, on average. Which makes a total of 2700 person-years. Let me correct this downwards to 2000 and multiply by 30. That makes 60 000 person-years of effort in the past 30 years. 60 000 person-years of effort and no result at all on unification. Could a statistics be more damning about the collective failure of particle physicists?
My business friend says that one person-year of research is worth more than 100 000 $. That makes the effort of the last 30 years worth more than $ 200 million a year, or $ 6 billion! (My friend says that interests would need to be included, which would triple the amount.)
6 billions wasted. My head is spinning. These physicists have wasted 6 billions and still did not succeed! My friend tells me that the worst R&D disaster she knew was the failed development of the Airbus 350 (first generation), which cost 2 billion and led to nothing.
3 times as bad as Airbus. That is damning. But wait, she said, there is another comparison: Not even the iPhone has this much of R&D effort inside it. And there are differences: the iPhone works. Unification does not. Plus: the iPhone satisfies a need and is useful to people, whereas unification ...
Help! What is going on here? We are feeding thousands of physicists who do not succeed? Since decades? They really give particle physics a bad name. Each of them. Unbelievable, isn't it?
1 November 2012
Women at CERN
Also CERN can write satire. In her latest entry on women at CERN, Pauline Gagnon writes:
"I strongly believe we will have achieved equality the day an incompetent woman will be elected to a high position."
This is a nice quip. But the trouble is that this is the case already, at least at CERN! There are several hundred female CERN scientists. Being at CERN is a high position in many countries. And the poorer the country, the higher the position is.
Now the data: the poorest countries send the highest percentage of women to CERN.
Yes. The poor countries have the most incompetent women...
P.S. There is one exception, also at CERN. In June 2012, when rumors about the discovery of the Higgs started circulating, Fabiola Gianotti, the spokeswoman of ATLAS, one of the CERN experiments, gave an interview. She said that the rumors should not be believed. A few days later, on July 4th, in a seminar watched world-wide, she confirmed that the rumors were correct. Gianotti is really as incompetent as Pauline Gagnon defined.
"I strongly believe we will have achieved equality the day an incompetent woman will be elected to a high position."
This is a nice quip. But the trouble is that this is the case already, at least at CERN! There are several hundred female CERN scientists. Being at CERN is a high position in many countries. And the poorer the country, the higher the position is.
Now the data: the poorest countries send the highest percentage of women to CERN.
Yes. The poor countries have the most incompetent women...
P.S. There is one exception, also at CERN. In June 2012, when rumors about the discovery of the Higgs started circulating, Fabiola Gianotti, the spokeswoman of ATLAS, one of the CERN experiments, gave an interview. She said that the rumors should not be believed. A few days later, on July 4th, in a seminar watched world-wide, she confirmed that the rumors were correct. Gianotti is really as incompetent as Pauline Gagnon defined.
30 October 2012
Truth, Sex and CERN
As is well known, both experiments at CERN, ATLAS and CMS, found a similar mass for the Higgs particle. In the beginning, we were told that this happened without each experiment knowing the results of the other.
Slowly, the truth is surfacing:"Half of ATLAS is sleeping with half of CMS", explains one of the researchers.
Ok, now we know how the agreement between the two experiments occurred. Calling the LHC the "Tunnel of Babylon" is apt.
But what are the real results on the Higgs?
Slowly, the truth is surfacing:"Half of ATLAS is sleeping with half of CMS", explains one of the researchers.
Ok, now we know how the agreement between the two experiments occurred. Calling the LHC the "Tunnel of Babylon" is apt.
But what are the real results on the Higgs?
27 October 2012
The Lying American
"Scientific" should means "correct", among other things. But Scientific American has now changed to "Lying American".
In the newest edition (see here) it writes about preons. Preons are known not to exist since decades. But the clowns of the Nature Publishing Group do not care. Why should they stick with the truth, when lies sell more journals?
In the newest edition (see here) it writes about preons. Preons are known not to exist since decades. But the clowns of the Nature Publishing Group do not care. Why should they stick with the truth, when lies sell more journals?
19 October 2012
Funny Old Men - Funnier Than Lance Armstrong
Those men over 45 who work as professors of theoretical particle physics are among the most ridiculous groups on the planet. Look at these adorers of supersymmetry, of loop quantum gravity or of strings; look at the lies they told to students and colleagues all along their careers.
Lance Armstrong was a crook who rode bicycles and misled his public. But at least he was hiding what he did - and he still knew that he was lying. And few others knew. Instead, these physics professors who went on lying to the public were never taken seriously by the public. Everybody knew that they were lying. But because nobody complained or told them - after all, who cares about a few old men lying about particle theory - the professors slowly started to believe that they were right. This is not "Lie strong", it is much more extreme and tragic.
Such extreme cases are usually only found in psychiatric wards. The coming years will be fun, when we will see the puzzled looks on the faces of these particle professors. We will witness personal excuses, collective excuses, finger-pointing, attacks against people who did no harm, attacks on those who point out the mistakes, and all other symptoms of denial. At the moment, there is only shock. Collective shock. They are waking up. They cannot avoid accepting that experiment is refuting their theories.
The most ridiculous are those professors whole believe that they are smarter than normal people. Fact is: normal people know exactly as much about unification as the professors do: namely nothing. The professors tried and struggled all their life. They studied physics, got a PhD, published research, went to conferences, exchanged ideas with other smart people. But they achieved nothing. Not even a little bit. All professors together do not know more than the beggar around the corner.
Such things happen when men do not listen to us women.
Lance Armstrong was a crook who rode bicycles and misled his public. But at least he was hiding what he did - and he still knew that he was lying. And few others knew. Instead, these physics professors who went on lying to the public were never taken seriously by the public. Everybody knew that they were lying. But because nobody complained or told them - after all, who cares about a few old men lying about particle theory - the professors slowly started to believe that they were right. This is not "Lie strong", it is much more extreme and tragic.
Such extreme cases are usually only found in psychiatric wards. The coming years will be fun, when we will see the puzzled looks on the faces of these particle professors. We will witness personal excuses, collective excuses, finger-pointing, attacks against people who did no harm, attacks on those who point out the mistakes, and all other symptoms of denial. At the moment, there is only shock. Collective shock. They are waking up. They cannot avoid accepting that experiment is refuting their theories.
The most ridiculous are those professors whole believe that they are smarter than normal people. Fact is: normal people know exactly as much about unification as the professors do: namely nothing. The professors tried and struggled all their life. They studied physics, got a PhD, published research, went to conferences, exchanged ideas with other smart people. But they achieved nothing. Not even a little bit. All professors together do not know more than the beggar around the corner.
Such things happen when men do not listen to us women.
14 October 2012
Arxiv Desert: Shocked Old Male Researchers Allow Younger Ones a Fresh Start
Do you follow the papers in arxiv/hep-th? This is the section where the smartest and most driven physicists of the planet publish their efforts for a theory of everything. It is always worth looking at the papers. But what do we learn?
Since years, the hep-th collection has not produced a good idea for unification. Supersymmetry, string theory and loop quantum gravity all failed. But nothing else is coming up. How can this be? How can it be that all these smart people fail? What are these (mostly) men doing?
One commenter explained that they are waiting for data. But the LHC has not provided new data at all. It only has proven almost every past candidate theory wrong. Yes, string theorists are right: loop quantum gravity is wrong. Yes, loop quantum gravity people are right: string theory is also wrong. Yes, most experimentalists were also right: supersymmetry is wrong. Are all these smart theory researchers still waiting for data that will not come? Or are they all still in state of shock?
How long will it take until, among these smart men, finally one or two shake off their state of shock and make a fresh proposal? How long will you men accept that a woman makes fun of your lack of courage and lack of competence?
Most string theorists have changed to loop quantum gravity bashers. Most normal physicists have started making fun of string theory. Guys, what are you waiting for? The challenge of a final theory is still there, and all the smart people are out of the race: In the US, Witten, Seiberg, Maldacena, Arkani-Hamed, Woit, Smolin and all the rest have given up; in France, most have given up, and the same happened in Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece.
The race is open again! Young guys, what are you waiting for? Or do we need to wait for a female Asian physicist to shock all the old white western males? Young guys, get your act together! Make the old theory researchers look what they actually are: a group of ridiculous and grumpy creatures.
Since years, the hep-th collection has not produced a good idea for unification. Supersymmetry, string theory and loop quantum gravity all failed. But nothing else is coming up. How can this be? How can it be that all these smart people fail? What are these (mostly) men doing?
One commenter explained that they are waiting for data. But the LHC has not provided new data at all. It only has proven almost every past candidate theory wrong. Yes, string theorists are right: loop quantum gravity is wrong. Yes, loop quantum gravity people are right: string theory is also wrong. Yes, most experimentalists were also right: supersymmetry is wrong. Are all these smart theory researchers still waiting for data that will not come? Or are they all still in state of shock?
How long will it take until, among these smart men, finally one or two shake off their state of shock and make a fresh proposal? How long will you men accept that a woman makes fun of your lack of courage and lack of competence?
Most string theorists have changed to loop quantum gravity bashers. Most normal physicists have started making fun of string theory. Guys, what are you waiting for? The challenge of a final theory is still there, and all the smart people are out of the race: In the US, Witten, Seiberg, Maldacena, Arkani-Hamed, Woit, Smolin and all the rest have given up; in France, most have given up, and the same happened in Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece.
The race is open again! Young guys, what are you waiting for? Or do we need to wait for a female Asian physicist to shock all the old white western males? Young guys, get your act together! Make the old theory researchers look what they actually are: a group of ridiculous and grumpy creatures.
8 September 2012
Spaghetti still have a chance
Schiller should not despair. True, he expected from the spaghetti model that no Higgs exists. But he even had an alternative in his book, with a drawing for a Higgs candidate, and a mass prediction of around 117 GeV. It looks as if his alternative might have been the correct one.
Will his strand/spaghetti model survive this disappointment? The newest edition of his book, from July 2012, is still optimistic. It is only a question of waiting until the end of the year. We then will know definitely whether the Higgs exists and really is the Higgs. We will know whether supersymmetry still has a chance. We will see whether anything beyond the standard model will be found. If all the other negative predictions from the spaghetti model hold up, the model will be one of the few candidates that agree with experiment! 2012 is an exciting year.
Will his strand/spaghetti model survive this disappointment? The newest edition of his book, from July 2012, is still optimistic. It is only a question of waiting until the end of the year. We then will know definitely whether the Higgs exists and really is the Higgs. We will know whether supersymmetry still has a chance. We will see whether anything beyond the standard model will be found. If all the other negative predictions from the spaghetti model hold up, the model will be one of the few candidates that agree with experiment! 2012 is an exciting year.
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