29 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Gravity is an Extremely Feeble Force
...imagine holding an electron in your left hand and another electron in your right hand and bringing
these two identical electrically charged particles close together. Their mutual gravitational attraction will favor their getting closer
while their electromagnetic repulsion will try to drive them apart. Which is stronger? There is no contest: The electromagnetic
repulsion is about a million billion billion billion billion (10 to the 42th) times stronger! If your right bicep represents the s...In comparison to the other forces holding the Universe together.
23 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Einstein Saw No Point in Exploring Non-Beautiful Theories
What I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics. Quoting Sir Hermann Bondi. I would argue that an ugly theory becomes beautiful as you explore it.