[mikegi]

Has physics hit rock bottom??? Here we have a Nobel Prize winner promoting (handwaving, really) a theory of ESP and even psychokinesis. Sillystrings, vacuum states, etc. it's all there.

[Josephson needs to get with the program, Sillystrings has been replaced with M-Theory]

[farmfriend]

bttt

[general_re]

I dunno. The last silly string conference got a little out of hand...

[Billthedrill]

The biggest conspiracy-theory nutcase I ever met was a physics professor. Smart guy when it came to quantum chromodynamics. Stupid as a post when it came to the high complexity of backing an automobile out of a parking place. I figure the wide ones ain't real deep and the deep ones ain't real wide.

[lelio]

bump for later reading.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP -

[metalboy]

I have a unified theory all worked out. It`s called "Hitlerys kampf" Hitlery Rodham struggles to become the ultimate ruler of both space, time and dimension

[KernFarmer]

Susskind's arguments suggest that reality may be much more complex than has normally been assumed. Further changes in fundamental science (which may include consideration of the influence of life) may be required to address this complexity. Since our proposals (such as thought bubbles emerging from some kind of background) do not involve the precise details of string theory, they may survive any such changes that fundamental science may undergo.

Sounds like it bubbled up from somewhere.

[Indie]

ESP is then explained in terms of shared ‘thought bubbles’ generated by the participants out of the mental vacuum state.

I will make the assertion that since ESP originates only when out of the mental vacuum state, that democRats to not have ESP.

[Yossarian]

I'll probably be flamed, but here goes anyways: in my life's experience as a highly rational high-level engineer, I've run across too much first hand to rule out things like ESP or clairvoyance.

Matter of fact, I'd have to rule them in, and if a guy like me is ruling them in, there must be a scientifically explainable phenomenon.

I'm not saying this physicist is doing a good job of investigating phenomena traditionally considered "paranormal", but eventually someone will come up with rational, provable theories explaining just how these things sometimes come about.

Brains are complex electro-chemical mechanisms that are not fully understood. The world of physics has a lot to understand about the world. Eventually they very might link up in surprising ways....

[servantoftheservant]

I have had dreams that have later occurred. Nothing spectacular....for example, dreaming of being in a mall, and then going to visit a relative in a town I've never been to and going to the mall I dreamed about. Freaked me out the first time it happened.

In my opinion, physics professionals that delve into the subtle are truly getting closer to the foundations of the universe.

[DeepDish]

I did not read the article. I'll just wait to hear his interview with Art Bell.

[jnarcus]

Or perhaps, this is more like Jung's ideas on the Collective Unconscience....

[fire_eye]

I've been waiting for this.

When I was in college in the 60's, us physics majors had a favorite saying: "Chemistry is becoming physics, biology is becoming chemistry, psychology is becoming biology, religion is becoming psychology, and dope is becoming religion".

Since then, I have been awaiting the magical moment when the circle is completed, and physics becomes dope.

I see we have now arrived at that exalted state of affairs.

[Joe Brower]

All one needs to do to see a ‘mental vacuum state’ firsthand is attend any meeting of the local democrats political committee, NOW chapter, MMM, ACLU, or any one of the dozens of other liberal/leftist groups.

[Physicist]

Has physics hit rock bottom???

Since there's apparently only one physicist saying this right now, at worst you can ask, "has Brian Josephson hit rock bottom?"

As for superstring theory, what is your basis for calling it "sillystrings"? If you've found some mathematical flaw in it, by all means, publish.

[RightWingAtheist]

Physics hasn't hit rock bottom; Josephson has. He's sort of the Michael Cimono of physics; he makes a repuatation for himself with genuinely impressive achievment, but then torpedoes it with a self-indulgent fantasy which everyone but him recognizes as boondoggle, and has spent the rest of his career living it down.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I think he also said guns aren't useful for self-defense.