Uploaded byDavid Dixon
Pathological physics
This document summarizes a talk given by Dr. David Dixon on "Pathological Physics" about crank theories from non-mainstream scientists. It discusses why these theories are described as "pathological" using examples from the Dunning-Kruger effect. It identifies three primary types of cranks: those who are crazy, naive, or stubborn. Examples are given of each type including an American Life radio segment about a man promoting incorrect theories. The document cautions that crank theories cannot be reasoned with but discussing them can help immunize students against bad ideas and show conceptual dead-ends.
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Pathological physics
- 1. Pathological Physics: Tales from“The Box” Dr. David Dixon Dept. of Physics California Polytechnic State University The Forum at Poly (June 1, 2012)
- 2. Outline • Why “pathological”? •“Primary colors” of cranks • The tells • Pedagogical examples
- 3. Why “Pathological”? • Pathology(n.) 1. The scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences. 2. A departure or deviation from a normal condition. Learning through failure.
- 4. The Dunning-Kruger Effect “Ignorance begets confidence.” Cognitive bias in which people perform poorly on a task, but lack the ability to properly evaluate their performance. Incompetent people fail to gauge their own incompetence, and thus fail to make attempts at self- improvement. Poor students overestimate their performance, good students underestimate theirs.
- 5. The Primary Colorsof Cranks “outsider scientists” 1. Crazy 2. Naïve 3. Stubborn
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- 17. An example of“concept mixing” “Electricity is found in three forms to my knowledge. Raw electric charge as ‘Lightning’, as it is found in ‘light’, and it is found to be Magnetic Flux. All travel at the same speed normally at the speed of light. This gives them a common denominator. Not unlike the stages of water in that you have ice, water, and steam from the same unit.” “It is a known fact that permanent magnets lose their strength over a period of time, thus dispelling the perpetual motion theory. The loss will probably end up being in the half life method, and the carbon atom.”
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- 19. Meet Bob • ThisAmerican Life episode #293, • “A Little Bit of Knowledge” Segment title: “Sucker mc2” by Robert Andrew Powell E = mc2 Guaranteed!
- 20. theories of everything •“The Universal Physics Theory” (531 pages) • “The New Gravity” (189 pages) • “The Grand Unified Theory of Physics” (137 pages) • “The Universe” (54 pages)
- 21. self-aggrandizement “SSC (Superconducting SuperCollider) is now officially dead. There is a good reason for its death. With my Final Theory of Everything, there is no need for a SSC to find the answers for Ultimate Reality. After a long and intense campaign, the support for SSC for physics community drops to zero. My Final Theory of Everything triumphs.” prequark.org
- 22. lack of disprooftaken to be proof
- 23. specious precision from“The Universe”, pp 30-1
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- 25. “deriving” fundamental constants = 6.66 x 10-11 (!)
- 26. “deriving” fundamental constants Thefine-structure constant α = ke2/ħc ≈ 1/137.036 ≈ 0.00729735 “The New Gravity”: everything in the universe is accelerating at au = 2.8 Å/s2 and au(1.0 sec)2c2 = 0.00702 “As can be seen, the differences are close enough to give serious consideration to the more simple form…”
- 27. “deriving” fundamental constants “TheUniversal Physics Theory” Everything in the universe is made of tiny particles called brutinos mass: 10-66 kg diameter: 10-35 m density: 1085 per cm3 mean free path: 10-15 m They form the “ether gas” with a classical Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.
- 28. “deriving” fundamental constants = 0.00729348 α ≈ 0.00729735 “We thus suspected that the square root of this number might be the velocity coupling ratio for the electromagnetic field.”
- 29. Here’s Bob again… Simple! time is a velocity mass times speed (mathematically) (no big deal)
- 30. convenient redefinitions “Fundamental Thermodynamicsat the Micro Level” “In my discussion of particle thermodynamics I will treat temperature as energy density expressed in joules… And entropy will be a dimensionless number which is the ratio of two lengths and it is therefore a geometrical parameter.” “It is specifically required that no distortion or misrepresentation of the parameter of time will be permissible. Thus, in this study it is strictly forbidden to use…the major portion of the Special Theory of Relativity”
- 31. convenient redefinitions “The New Gravity” “The whole argument to be made for the New Gravity is simply that Mass is herein being redefined, in that, whereas a body’s Inertial and gravitational mass have always been classically represented to mean their TOTAL mass… we instead proclaim a body’s Gravitational Mass to be only the body’s Column-Mass:” mc = (density) (mean radius) (1 m2) For earth: mc = (5520 kg/m3)(6371000 m)(1 m2) = 3.5 x 1010 kg Note that mcau = 9.8 N (!!!!) “That Force pulling on each kilogram of mass resting upon the Earth’s surface is due to the equivalent Outside Force constantly pushing the Earth through space” (at the speed of light, by the way)
- 32. convenient redefinitions • “TheNew Gravity”, p. 29 Regarding units: “We needn’t put labels on everything and can, if we wish, do without them as long as we make clear what we are saying.”
- 33. What’s the dealwith engineers? Common in fringe science communities: • Creationists (“Salem Hypothesis”) • Conspiracy theorists • Apocalyptic cults • Cranks
- 34. Can they bereasoned with? No. Bob meets a physicist: After the meeting:
- 35. …so why bother? Teachingphysics = correcting misconceptions about the natural world before they become permanent Crank theories are advanced (terminal) cases of misconception, can be used to show conceptual dead-ends, and how to back out of them. →Immunization against bad ideas. Learning Through Failure
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- 38. Science vs. Pseudosciencecourse • Formal/informal fallacies • Case studies in self-deception • Developing skills of self-assessment and -criticism • attitudes towards knowledge
- 39. Further Reading physicsonthefringe.com Natural Philosophy Alliance worldnpa.org
- 40. Epilogue: Who arethese guys? The Grand Unified The New Gravity Theory of Physics Joseph M. Brown Kenneth G. Salem Ph.D. in Engineering, Purdue Inventor of the Ken-Lite flashlight “brutino” theory first published at McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) Taught at Mississippi State University for 20+ years
- 41. Fundamental Thermodynamics From his obituary: at the Micro Level “John then returned to Roanoke, VA, where he undertook an organized study program and a rigorous exercise program. After 17 years, he had jogged 17,000 miles and published five books on basic particle physics, technical books that questioned some generally accepted scientific theories. “ And the last words on John Frank Johnson M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Bob (Berenz) University of Pennsylvania Vice President of ITT Avionics President of ITT Electro-Optical Products Corporate VP of ITT Retired in 1982, Died 2004
- 42. Thanks to TheBox’s caretakers: Bob Dickerson John Mottman Rich Saenz Matt Moelter Tom Gutierrez