Thread: Interested in Theoretical Physics?

Originally Posted by tekbow

Time for a terry pratchett quote?

"In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded"

Ah... Sir Terry...
He's my all time favorite writer. I especially like his darker writings.
The fact that he classifies 'I shall wear midnight' as a story for children is a joke all by itself.

Anyway back to the topic at hand. It's true that the more you start to think about the implications of what we know (and don't know) about theoretical physics, the more you start to feel like you're living in a discworld novel.

Therories are opinions with math....And, you know what they say about "opinions"....Opinions are like A-Holes...Everyone has one....It's just that some smell better than others..

The more I hear about the latest theories in Physics, the more I think that the lines start to blur between it and philosophy. Which is funny in a way because, at least in my experience, Physics is considered a "hard" science whereas Philosophy is considered more a liberal arts discipline, or "soft".

In the end, I think all theoretical physics is is mathematicians playing at philosophy, and then sitting around hoping the maths works out and that some experimental physicist will ensure their tenure by validating their educated guesses empirically. In short, its academia.

But anyway, as far as this particular idea goes I have no idea. But from the description it pretty much conforms with my view of the discipline.

James.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I have always been interested in theoretical physics.
However, I think it is by definition impossible to 'prove' reality.

Everything we experience is a result of sensory input. Think of it like in the Matrix movie. Conceptually, it is impossible to prove that we are not hooked up, matrix-style. The same holds true for the universe in general.

Look at the big bang theory: it says that everything came into being in a point without size. If there is a big crunch at the end and everything is compressed back into that point and annihilated, and there is no 'time' in which things can be measured (since time cannot mathematically exist before the big bang or after the crunch)... did we ever exist at all? do we then exist now? Or are we a dream without substance?

I've heard someone theorize that the 'Big Bang' has been going on forever. Nothingness explodes, creating the expanding universe. Eventually the universe reverses and contracts back to a point of nothingness, then it explodes again, over and over again. Of course, when it contracts back to nothing, it wipes out time as well as matter, so there's no 'forever' either. To me it just sounds like the scientific equivalent of 'turtles all the way down' when trying to explain what existed before the Big Bang. Then there's the membrane theory, that universes are created when two 'membranes' made up of 11 dimensions collide with each other.

My favorite physics experiment is the Double Slit experiment. Basically it shows that particles behave differently when they are being observed. Most subatomic particles behave as both waves and as particles. When single electrons are shot at a screen with two slits in it, they produce a wave pattern on whatever medium is capturing them. If there is something observing the particles as they are being shot at the slits, they produce a particle pattern.

schrodingers cat?

There is really only one first principle: I shave, therefore I am.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Therories are opinions with math....And, you know what they say about "opinions"....Opinions are like A-Holes...Everyone has one....It's just that some smell better than others..

I would not want to be doing that testing.....

Theories in the scientific sense are much different from the common usage of the word theory, I think you mean hypotheses are like A-holes?

Sorry, my teacher in school was picky about this and it stayed with me as a result lol

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I would not want to be doing that testing.....

I agree. However, we can use math to work out the area of the a-holes in question. Pi arse squared!! Boom boom!

James.

Originally Posted by tekbow

Theories in the scientific sense are much different from the common usage of the word theory, I think you mean hypotheses are like A-holes?

Sorry, my teacher in school was picky about this and it stayed with me as a result lol

Wow...you're that guy....