Physics

[CoolTen10]

Why does Art talk so much about Quantum Physics and things related? Those are boring topics...

[Chronaut]

Really?  Art's interviews with scientists at the bleeding edge of physics and cosmology, like Dr. David Darling, are riveting to me.  Those are the interviews I go back to years later and listen to again and again.  Often they inspire ideas that I talk about with my friends later, sometimes even years later.  And Art's thirst for knowledge about the universe syncs brilliantly with bright scientific minds - he always seems extremely engaged when he's got those folks on the line.

I used to enjoy listening to psychic predictions and Major Ed Dames and professional storytellers like Andrew Basiago and Al Bielek, but once you know their stuff is bunk, it feels like a total waste of time.  Kinda like magicians - it's fun up until you know how it's done, but afterward it's just disappointing.

I wonder what kinds of topics you like to hear - we have a thread devoted to Midnight in the Desert Guest Suggestions if you'd like to suggest some folks here:
http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,8520.0.html

[Dyna-X]

Really?  Art's interviews with scientists at the bleeding edge of physics and cosmology, like Dr. David Darling, are riveting to me.  Those are the interviews I go back to years later and listen to again and again.  Often they inspire ideas that I talk about with my friends later, sometimes even years later.  And Art's thirst for knowledge about the universe syncs brilliantly with bright scientific minds - he always seems extremely engaged when he's got those folks on the line.

I used to enjoy listening to psychic predictions and Major Ed Dames and professional storytellers like Andrew Basiago and Al Bielek, but once you know their stuff is bunk, it feels like a total waste of time.  Kinda like magicians - it's fun up until you know how it's done, but afterward it's just disappointing.

I wonder what kinds of topics you like to hear - we have a thread devoted to Midnight in the Desert Guest Suggestions if you'd like to suggest some folks here:
http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,8520.0.html

I'm with you on that! Its pretty challenging to find scientists that will give us the straight dope on quantum physics. (or cosmolgy, geology, etc)  Most of the folks that use the term have never cracked a quantum physics textbook in their lives. The theories about bi-location, entaglement and so forth represent a very small portion of what quantum physics is really about as a curious issue of advanced theorizing.  In order to separate fact from fiction and speculation it takes a level of intellect on the part of the listener to excercise logic and semantics.  Some may love him, but I bore of folks like Deepak Chopra quite quickly because he reduces respectable science to word salad. A test question to screen any guest that plans to use the word quantum anywhere is: Are you familiar with this book?

[onan]

I'm with you on that! Its pretty challenging to find scientists that will give us the straight dope on quantum physics. (or cosmolgy, geology, etc)  Most of the folks that use the term have never cracked a quantum physics textbook in their lives. The theories about bi-location, entaglement and so forth represent a very small portion of what quantum physics is really about as a curious issue of advanced theorizing.  In order to separate fact from fiction and speculation it takes a level of intellect on the part of the listener to excercise logic and semantics.  Some may love him, but I bore of folks like Deepak Chopra quite quickly because he reduces respectable science to word salad. A test question to screen any guest that plans to use the word quantum anywhere is: Are you familiar with this book?

Doesn't make for spooky radio. But I concur, buzzwords to float non-science/nonsense is more than boring.

[Wintermute]

My $.10... Art is at his best when he has a guest that plays off of his "curious questions" about real science. Art is at his worst when he has on real PhD's and tries to more or less communicate with them on their level. Art is not an expert at science and technology. Art at one time was an expert at talk radio and still does a darn good job most nights.

Interviews with David Darling, Michio Kaku, Marcus Hutter... all interesting, legitimate researchers and purveyors of science and technology. All have been on NPR and many other media outlets. All interviewed with the depth and tact of a high-schooler by Art Bell.

Although I prefer Art having on guests like the above mentioned, I still think his best shows and most compelling and entertaining interviews are with fringe popularists and assorted windbags and wingnuts. Art is knowledgeable and skeptical enough to ask good questions that draw out something entertaining with those type folks. Real technologists and researchers, he has only the cursory background to scratch the surface of an interview.

[droog]

Art, like many of his devoted listeners, is trying to get to the bottom of things.  Whether he is aware of it or not, quantum physics would provide scientific answers to many of his questions.  I think he intuitively gets this, which is why he delves into the subject so heavily.  Some of the areas that could be resolved with quantum physics include ghosts, anything involving space travel, all psychic phenomenon, and even why his LED back-healing device actually works.  Experiments so far have supported much of this science, as far out as the results seem to us closed-minded humans.  This stuff is slowly seeping out into the mainstream, which is excellent and required for the survival of our greedy, destructive race.  This physics says we are all connected, and connected to this planet and universe, which is a marvelous and positive message.  I have never had access to this book, but it comes highly recommended as an accessible and entertaining introduction to the topic: "Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics" by Robert Gilmore.

[Wintermute]

Instead of reading allegories, maybe try something directly useful to learning the entry point to the topic at hand:

http://www.amazon.com/Problems-Solutions-Introductory-Mechanics-David/dp/1482086921
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465075681

I'm not a big fan of reductive understanding when trying to learn something. Not everything is easy or easy to understand. If these over-arching theories of how nature may work were easy to apply and understand, we all would be a lot farther along right now. The fact is the far reaching majority of people on Earth could not get through a Classical Mechanics course because they have neither the math education, nor the scientific research knowledge. Add to that, they don't really care to know. That's Newton and Maxwell... that's 1700's and 1800's aged knowledge... and it's what you have to start with to understand the other two major branches of Physics.

Again, I like Art for entertainment. But he is no different than the majority of the world who either doesn't care enough to understand some fundamentals, nor was ever exposed to it to begin with and is using reductionism to act knowledgeable. That's the land of the "cranks" which is where Art excels... and I am more than happy to tune in.

[Keykou]

Physics... it this making sense to you?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NNlX-eTuPM

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

Instead of reading allegories, maybe try something directly useful to learning the entry point to the topic at hand:

http://www.amazon.com/Problems-Solutions-Introductory-Mechanics-David/dp/1482086921
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465075681

I'm not a big fan of reductive understanding when trying to learn something. Not everything is easy or easy to understand. If these over-arching theories of how nature may work were easy to apply and understand, we all would be a lot farther along right now. The fact is the far reaching majority of people on Earth could not get through a Classical Mechanics course because they have neither the math education, nor the scientific research knowledge. Add to that, they don't really care to know. That's Newton and Maxwell... that's 1700's and 1800's aged knowledge... and it's what you have to start with to understand the other two major branches of Physics.

Again, I like Art for entertainment. But he is no different than the majority of the world who either doesn't care enough to understand some fundamentals, nor was ever exposed to it to begin with and is using reductionism to act knowledgeable. That's the land of the "cranks" which is where Art excels... and I am more than happy to tune in.

Just for shits & giggles, try some of James Clerk Maxwell's Quaternion Analysis equations.
  [Aside] -  Quaternion Analysis equations pretty much blow Einstein's plagiarized ( yes, Einstein plagiarized the theories accredited to him,)'Theories' - general and special - right out of the water. Just so there is no misunderstanding, Einsteins' theories are just that, theories. If they were not flawed, they would be called the 'Laws of Relativity'. Rotational Aether physics as a science was destroyed by those assholes Oliver Heaviside & Josiah Willard Gibbs when they truncated the Quaternion Analysis equations and removed the vector components. The physics that is taught as 'fact' today is misleading and heavily flawed. If it wasn't flawed, Teleportation, Anti-gravity Science, Telepathy, Temporal Engineering, Rotational Aether Mechanics, Unified Field Law, and many other sciences that are today considered science fiction, would be understood and in common use. [End Aside]

  I like listening to the hard science guests Art has on.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Just for shits & giggles, try some of James Clerk Maxwell's Quaternion Analysis equations.
  [Aside] -  Quaternion Analysis equations pretty much blow Einstein's plagiarized ( yes, Einstein plagiarized the theories accredited to him,)'Theories' - general and special - right out of the water. Just so there is no misunderstanding, Einsteins' theories are just that, theories. If they were not flawed, they would be called the 'Laws of Relativity'. Rotational Aether physics as a science was destroyed by those assholes Oliver Heaviside & Josiah Willard Gibbs when they truncated the Quaternion Analysis equations and removed the vector components. The physics that is taught as 'fact' today is misleading and heavily flawed. If it wasn't flawed, Teleportation, Anti-gravity Science, Telepathy, Temporal Engineering, Rotational Aether Mechanics, Unified Field Law, and many other sciences that are today considered science fiction, would be understood and in common use. [End Aside]

  I like listening to the hard science guests Art has on.

No offense intended, but I don't think Einstein's theories would ever under any circumstances be called laws.  Laws are simple statements that can usually be summed up in a single equation.  It is possible for a law to be discredited or to not always be true.

Theories are models of how the universe works.  They are not hypothesis.  An established theory has been well vetted by testing falsifiable predictions from a variety of standpoints, repeating the tests in differing circumstances using different independent researchers and research facilities.  They have generally been held to much higher standards than a criminal court case and have received the general consensus of scientists in the field.  Theories are as close as science ever comes and ever can come to facts.  Einstein's theories have been vetted to the highest possible standards within our ability to measure.  While they may not be a complete description of how the universe works, they will almost undoubtedly never be overturned within the ranges they were meant to be applied, just as Newton's theories were incomplete but are still valid for nearly everything we do.