Re: New Scientist - Joao Magueijo - Hero or Heretic? (fwd)

[Tim May]

On Wednesday, February 12, 2003, at 07:36  PM, Andri Esteves wrote:

On Thursday, 13 de February de 2003 02:02, you wrote:

On Wednesday, February 12, 2003, at 05:04  PM, Andri Esteves wrote:

Everything that could go wrong in academia and science is in Portugal.

That is the background Magueijo comes from...

I sat in a bookstore and read most of his book several weeks ago. A few
comments:

First, I kept looking for a clear description of the theory, with
convincing details, support, etc. I didn't find it. I instead found a
lot of stuff about peeing outside a bar in some tropical place, stories
about his girlfriend, insults he delivered to editors at "Nature," and
on and on. Sort of a "Fear and Loathing on the Road to Quantum
Gravity." (Pun with Smolin's title intended.)

You still read science popularizers ?

If you like science you should go to the source. I can't read many tecnhical
articles, but good sinopses and conclusions give you an idea of the article's
inplications. Just have to build a field mind map of an area...

There's absolutely nothing wrong with reading popularizers.

Unlike you, I see great value in reading overviews by folks like Brian Greene, Lee Smolin, and John Barrow before digging in to the arXives at xxx.lanl.gov.

Second, I don't know about Hawking's books, but Lee Smolin is one of
the current popularizers who have done excellent jobs. I recommend both
of his books. His own "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity" is crystal clear
in describing several of the competing theories. Smolin also explains
what's really important. (Check the archives for my past comments on
Smolin and topos theory, for example, from last summer.)

Never heard of him... Books are very expensive in Portugal...
As the publishing houses in portugal mainly publish religious or black-magic
themes... I will probably read it in english...

He's one of Magueijo's collaborators on VSL, so if you have not heard of him you should not be commenting at all.

Third, I have no idea if the VSL theory is "right." Time will tell.

At least there is some experimental work on it. Wich tons of theorical work
in physics don't even try to achieve and with blessing of the establishment...

This is a silly comment. There are experimental results in many areas of physics, including at the frontiers.

What can i say... Career or science. Are you part of the problem or of the
solution??
...

Venal comments.

--Tim May
"As my father told me long ago, the objective is not to convince someone
 with your arguments but to provide the arguments with which he later
 convinces himself." -- David Friedman