My chance to ask physics genius a question

A few nights ago someone left a wallet / driving license etc in at a club I was running, so I spent yesterday trying to track down the phone number of the person who's wallet it was so I could return it to them.

Imagine my surprise then that when I typed the persons name into Google I was presented with page upon page of articles, lectures etc on higgs boson particles, high energy physics and an email address that Identified him as working at the large hadron collider for Cern

So I am going to meet this guy on Friday to return his wallet and am hoping that maybe we will have time to chat. (He may well just take the wallet and run to get a train though)

So my question is, What should I talk to a physics genius about, If I only get a chance to ask one thing, what should it be?

[edit on 10-8-2010 by davespanners]

Maybe you could ask him about whether or not he is in fact the scientist in question, and then after he confirms this you could ask him about the phenomenon in which two independent particles become "anchored" together such that exerting force on one gives the appearance of force exerted on the other. If you expect to get any answers out of him you should express genuine interest in the subject, though. Any passing flight of curiosity will likely be explained away in a way you probably can't understand too well.

I know it's the same scientist as thats how I eventually managed to track him down, from the email listed on one of the physics pages.

I am genuinely interested so that won't be hard.

Do you mean entanglement?

just ask him if he knows any amazing recent discoveries he can tell you about. If you started trying to talk science without any knowledge you would get schooled.

reply to post by davespanners


Yes, I'm talking entanglement. I think that it is a very important phenomenon to study, I feel it has implications in faster than light and/or instantaneous travel. Imagine if we could harness enough of these entangled particles to store some semblance of data. That's all the universe really is, is data, you know? Usually stored as energy, which we know from Einstein is actually matter.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Originally posted by SPACEYstranger
just ask him if he knows any amazing recent discoveries he can tell you about. If you started trying to talk science without any knowledge you would get schooled.

I fear that that may well be true...

I took physics in college and I take kind of a general interest in scientific subjects, but if he starts writing down equations I would be lost

[edit on 10-8-2010 by davespanners]

Just ask him what interpretation of the quantum model he thinks is more true...
and if he says determinism then ask him why does the universe play with probabilities when it has already been determined.....

edited should be determinism not determination.

determinism is the view that all events are casually determined by previous events. In quantum events are not casually determined by previous events...
Arrow of time

I dont think I got it that wrong with the joke....

[edit on 10/8/2010 by loner007]

Since you took plenty of time out of your own schedule to track him down and meet with him he should have no problem sitting down with you for a few minutes and allowing you to pick his brain a bit. It's the least he can do. I would just Do a little research on what's new in the CERN world and ask him about anything exciting that's going on. Any physics genius would probably love to explain some of the projects being worked on, especially to an honestly interested civilian. It's your only chance so don't waste it. You'll kick yourself if you let him get away without at least explaining the speeds they have the collider reaching.

I think I would kick myself if I didn't ask him something, but I don't even understand loner007's joke so I am probably going to be useless.



[edit on 10-8-2010 by davespanners]

reply to post by davespanners

loner007 doesn't understand loner007's joke. Lol.

i know I waste reading on some information about a former scientist from lockheed martin His name is Boyd Bushman( check his stuff, he has groundbrking information on multiple subjects (as Lockheed has a huge R and D) ) But there is two things in particular if I could ask I would.

1- Boyd Received a certificate for proving that An opposing force magnet fell at a slower pace than its same weight counterpart. ( Not sure how to embed an image). I would ask him to explain this. ~Reducing the mass gravity equivalent

2-Boyyd also says that he is always looking for the exception to the rule. as it is he has a little toy(ill call it a toy) which if you spin it clockwise it will stop and spin counterclock wise. It is callled a Celt. (S-el-t). (theoretically it is because one (counterclockwise vs. clockwise) is naturally stonger than the other??)

If it is the dude...

As him about "entanglement" and the whole particle-wave theory stuff and see what he thinks about this in a spiritualistic frame of reference.

I would love to hear what he has to say about the politics of Academia. CERN is a massive investment, one of the largest and most expensive projects ever undertaken by science. But it's all based on theories that might not be true. There are several competent models that don't require a Higgs Boson.

But if you want to talk physics, I'd grill him about dark matter and dark energy. Observational evidence seems to consistently disprove our theories of gravity. Thus, we invent an entirely new species of matter that only exist is to fill in the gaps left wide open by our earlier theories.

Likewise, the red shift phenomenon has been proven on numerous occasions to NOT be an indication of distance. Thus, our current concept of the size and shape and age of the universe is entirely wrong. VERY wrong. But we cling to those old theories, and so dark energy was invented to explain the "fact" that galaxies are accelerating away from each other. But that "fact" is based on the theory that red shift is an indication of distance.

See how convoluted and messy the whole situation is? This is the result of POLITICS interfering with real science. The two are disgustingly intertwined. Maybe he can comment on some of this =)

[edit on 10-8-2010 by Son of Will]

Ask him if he believes the universe is pure consciousness?

Ask him if he believes that entanglement isn't true where particle A communicates with particle B, but rather both A and B are in a consciousness field C which facilitates instantaneous communication because consciousness is the unified field?

Dude... I just want my wallet back.













Just kidding.

Perhaps the evolution from TOE(Theory of Everything) to the akashic field would be an interesting subject. E. Lazlo's book Science and the Akashic Field is a contemporary intermingling of Grand Unified Theory, String Theory, Toe and what is called ether.

Excerpt:

"Science and the Akashic Field is a nontechnical introduction to the informed universe, cornerstone of a scientific theory that will grow into a genuine theory of everything. It describes the origins and the essential elements of this theory and explores why and how it is surfacing in quantum physics and in cosmology, in the biological sciences, and in the new field consciousness research. It highlights the theory's crucial feature: the revolutionary discovery that at the roots of reality there is an interconnecting, information-conserving and information conveying cosmic field. For thousands of years, mystics and seers, sages and philosophers maintained that there is such a field: in the East they call it the Akashic Field. But the majority of Western scientists consider it a myth. Today, at the new horizons opened by the latest scientific discoveries, this field is being rediscovered. The effects of the Akashic Field are not limited to the physical worlds: the A- field informs all living things--the entire web of life. It also informs our consciousness."

Peace

reply to post by davespanners

i personally would ask about this "dove-incident" where the experiment got halted and the theory about it, that god sabotaged his/her/its disclosure.

reply to post by davespanners


Ask him why using warm water for ice cubes tends to give solid ice cubes faster than when using cold water.

reply to post by LightFantastic

Hear, hear!

Yours is the only suggestion worth a damn on the thread so far.

Bring paper and pencil with you or a recorder.

You'll regret if you try and go off memory and then lose some of what he said in response to whatever question/s you do ask him.