Sister blog of Physicists of the Caribbean. Shorter, more focused posts specialising in astronomy and data visualisation.

Wednesday, 21 March 2018

I am super famous now

I haven't read the article yet. Stephen Hawking used one of my graphics !

http://www.rhysy.net/other-1.html

Confirmation 7 minutes in :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF9jAGyL1fg

Excuse me while I go and stroke my ego with a nice cup of tea.



“The questions that they’re attempting to answer are still valid, open questions, and the best this paper can do — if it’s correct and relevant, and it may be neither — is provide suggestions towards an answer. The approach is largely based off of work that Hartle, Hawking, and Hertog have done in the past, the dS/CFT connection pioneered by Chris Hull and others, along with string-inspired work done by Andrew Strominger and his collaborators. None of this is based off of any realistic cosmological models; these are toy models that they are calculating in, and then reasoning-by-analogy with what we actually know exists. Like most theoretical work in the very early stages, there are interesting ideas that are presented, the work and calculations are highly speculative, and there is not necessarily a connection with reality. But there’s a non-zero chance that one is real. And in theoretical physics, a novel idea with a chance is worth infinitely more than no new ideas at all.”

There have been a lot of incredible claims floating around the media about what’s going on with Stephen Hawking’s final paper, which was submitted earlier in March, less than two weeks before he died. Some are claiming it will help us detect the multiverse, others claiming that it will tell us how the Universe will end. The truth is much more sobering, however: it discusses issues involving the dynamics of inflation. There are incredible questions we’re trying to understand about the Universe, such as: did inflation begin, or was it eternal; will it continue indefinitely into the future; does it inevitably lead to a multiverse; did time and space begin with a singularity? These are very important, and Hawking’s final paper was the construction of a toy model that argued “yes” for the final question. But it has nothing to do with the hype surrounding it.

Let’s not deify our heroes; let’s allow their good work to stand on their own merits. And most importantly, let’s be honest about what they did. Here’s the truth."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/03/21/i-am-an-astrophysicist-heres-what-stephen-hawkings-final-paper-was-actually-about/

6 comments:

  1. slow clap

    Also, cue the latest Dan Brown, "The Final Theory"

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've peaked, Rhys Taylor It's all downhill now :o

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matter Beam There are worse ways to peak, it could have been Neil de Grasse Tyson :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rhys Taylor Heyheyhey... don't be throwing shade on my man Neil De. He did a lot of important work on Type 1a and Type II supernovae, going through mounds of data. You'd better watch out, Dr. Taylor, for the old Bedford Lorry of Fame might be roaring down the road in your general direction and you'll replace that photogenic git Brian Cox. And get an OBE. And an FRS. And a devoted coterie of adoring fans. It could happen, even to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Minute 14 after he shows your graphic S.H. said
    "...infinite highly curved like a saddle" ... then there's a long pause and a picture of Lisa Randall appears . ... for a long time . .. he doesn't say anything. .. by now I'm imagining things

    ReplyDelete

Giants in the deep

Here's a fun little paper  about hunting the gassiest galaxies in the Universe. I have to admit that FAST is delivering some very impres...