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You can’t go faster than the speed of light – And other lies
The folks at CERN (super collider in Switzerland/Italy) are scratching their heads this weekend. They observed something happening that simply can’t be true. The scientists have measured neutrinos moving at a speed greater than the speed of light.
The possible discovery of subatomic particles moving faster than the speed of light has researchers worried about one of the fundamental tenets of modern physics.
"To our great surprise we found an anomaly," said the experiment’s spokesman, Antonio Ereditato of Bern University.
The average person, said De Rujula, "could, in principle, travel to the past and kill their mother before they were born."
We shall see over the next few months whether the “anomaly” observed this week will be proven true. If it is proven, some basic building blocks of physics (E=MC^2) will come into question.
Some other "Givens" that the modern economy/civilization rests on were also brought into question in the past week. Here’s my list of those potential lies.
Keynesian Economics always works.
Lower interest rates are good for the economy.
Deficit spending as a counter cyclical measure always brings the desired results.
Low interest rates are good for the stock market.
Gold is a safe haven.
The Swiss Franc (and HK$) is a safe haven.
Dividend stocks are a safe haven
The Fed is an independent entity. Their decisions are free of political considerations.
Countries don’t go bankrupt. They just restructure their debts.
The US government can invest in new technology without risk.
HFT is a good thing as it increases liquidity during troubled market conditions.
Advanced economies can function perfectly fine with debt levels above 100% of GDP.
The US is pretty close to turning the corner and returning to sustainable economic growth.
Extended unemployment benefits are good for the economy.
The big global banks are all “Money good”.
There are no negative consequences resulting from artificially low interest rates.
The “Buy and Hold” is a good investment strategy.
The vast majority of pension funds are sound. They can easily earn the 8% compounded annual returns that are necessary to assure they can meet their obligations.
Republicans and Democrats have learned an important lesson with the S&P downgrade. Their ideological differences will be put to the side for the good of the country.
Increasing taxes is a viable solution to our problems.
It’s perfectly reasonable to push much-needed belt tightening off into the distant future. The “Markets” will accept the, “spend today but not tomorrow” policies and actually believe it.
The US Treasury Secretary has significant influence in shaping economic policy in Europe.
Market volatility is good for investors as it increases their opportunity to buy cheap assets.
ZIRP is proving to be a valuable policy tool in offsetting the economic slowdown.
Ben Bernanke actually can “Talk up” the market.
The problems facing the USA are short-term in nature. There are no structural economic impediments that need to be addressed.
Monetary and fiscal policies always work. The only possibility is that too little monetary and fiscal “Gas” is prescribed.
There are a number of truly viable presidential candidates within the Republican party.
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy actually do understand what is going on in the financial sector of the EU. Their reluctance to act decisively is prudent policy.
The BRIC’s (especially China) will be immune from a decline in western economies. China has successfully converted its economy such that it is self-sustainable based exclusively on domestic demand.
The times have never been brighter for the possibility of lasting peace in the Middle East.
The Fed has many powerful and effective “Tools” available to achieve their desired objectives.
Investing in ten-year treasury bonds is a good investment choice. The current yield of 1.8% is more than sufficient to offset the inflationary erosion of the principal invested.
The Fed is not working lock step with the administration on economic issues. The Fed is staunchly independent. Any claims to the contrary by Republicans are just hogwash.
The possibility of new high tech failures is remote. It’s perfectly appropriate to fund star-ups with debt. Equity money is not required as bankruptcy is not a consideration.
Cocktail party stocks like Netflicks and Molycorp should always be bought on the dips.
The S&P will earn over $100/share in 2012. Stock multiples always have to move higher.
There are no, repeat, no liquidity concerns at any of the large EU banks. That’s just a fact, the heads of these banks have repeated said so.
Bernanke is omnipotent. He has the means and the will to achieve lasting economic prosperity both in the USA and the world.
There is a zero chance that the Fed’s actions this week could lead to any systemic risks. Inflation is under control today and will be for at least the next five years.
It is wise policy for the Fed to facilitate the debt issuance of the USA. More cheap debt is the solution, not the problem.
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Ummm No. Have we reached the pinncale of scientific discovery ala Einstein? I think not. And if he were alive he would be very interested in this discovery. E=MC*2 works within a certain framework but frameworks necessarily change. It was only a few generations ago where everyone accepted the world was flat ...
Doesn't debt move faster than the speed of light?
should finish fucking around with nonsense and come up with a worthy EuroBond that will keep them installed in their Ivory Tower. 'cuz, the way that things are going, their "stipends" and "research grants" are winchester. Therefore, the boyz and girlz are out on the street and they don't know how to wash dish-one in the local trattoria.
- Ned
Priceless Ned, priceless...
When Quantum Mechanics introduced the concept of probability to the physics of the Universe, Einstein said, "God does not play dice with the Universe".
Max Planck retorted "and Einstein should presume to know the mind of God ? "
Money and money instruments are glued together by self-interest and greed with guiding principles as solid as fog will allow.
It's a dimensional shift (out-and-in), and time is not linear across dimensions.
In a very real sense, this is not a surprise, and similar principles have been observed for decades. For example, really whacky stuff has been seen with Young's Double-Slit experiments in the 1800's. Yes, those are photons (in theory without mass), but the same principle applies.
Going back-and-forth in time is not a problem, is done all the time, and is very physics-based. It is only the human that is uncomfortable with the implications. Largely, this is because "physics" itself is insufficient for explanation, and we must move into "probabilities and quantum physics", which make people very uncomfortable (because it is not discrete). Finally, even that is insufficient: In a very real sense, you must shift to "meta-physics" to explain and understand (and that makes people *really* uncomfortable, because it starts to touch on "spirituality", which a "scientist" would consider "out-of-bounds").
Good Stuff Mikla.
Though slightly longer than your succint answer, the Tao of Physics by Capra expounded on that fine boundary between Physics and Meta-physics very lucidly.
ORI
Finally, a theorem that explains why there were two Darrins on "Bewitched". Now if the scientific community can determine the 11 original herbs and spices in KFC we will finally have our unified theory of everything....which as many of you already know is: 42
"Going back-and-forth in time is not a problem, is done all the time", OH REALLY??????????? SOMEBODY RING THE GONG BELL, and hurry.............
Thanks. Makes sense since CERN's experiments are in multi-dimensional physics.
The average person, said De Rujula, "could, in principle, travel to the past and kill their mother before they were born."
Only if 'the average person' is a neutrino.
Just imagine what the above-average person could do.
Average peeps want to kill their Moms all the time no doubt.
They could get the EU to put up a new satelite with an atomic clock that is 10 times more accurate than the one they had. And then use that atomic clock to pretend to time the flight time of a neutrino.
The above average person does a lot of impressive stuff. He/she just doesn't get any results that mean a damn thing.
It's been done.
The dinasours didn't do well against today's Common Cold.
Ya' know, I have noticed faster ping times lately.
Yeah, electrons decided to catch up with neutrinos.
Very funny stuff. Kind of like Lettermans top ten list of cnbc best BS. I can almost hear Liesman now
Super-luminous. That's just plain cool.
Aether bitchez!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether
http://www.esotericscience.com/Physics.aspx
Lorentz, Poincare and Maxwell FTW!
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=28362
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_ether_theory
Einstein...not so much...
http://www.anti-relativity.com/irrationalplagiarist.htm
Haaah, nice list. I especially like the Einstein part. If you try to bash that poor plaiarist anywhere, know-nothing hero-worshippers come out in droves, protecting their own feeble "knowing" ground, the giants on whose shoulders they stand.
It's almost as bad as bad-mouthing Gandhi in India.
And Bruce, brilliant man. Just brilliant as always.
ORI
Uppers and Downers
This is old news. 9/11 taught us all that there are NO laws pertaining to physics.
actually, the only thing I truly give a big fat shit about now is getting my gold and silver back up to speed!, not some more hypothetical bullshit ultra-intellectual snoz about a race between light photons and super accerlerated neutrons. give me a brake dudes. it ain't happenin, and if it was, what the fuck.........oh, I know, the "BEAM ME UP SCOTTY"crowd........jeeeeeesh....Nimoy's laughing all the way to the bank, you F.M.'s !
as one of the few people on here who is a quasi-futurist and has been in touch with many people from the so called futurist 'community' , most of which exists virtually online......
i would say this couldn't be more true. most beam me up scotty types have no grip on the reality of what is going on in the real world. most of them that think they do fit into the neo-liberal stereotype of protesters and democrat loving hippies, or 'progressive government' loving hippies that blindly subscribe to the ideas of paul krugman. most...not all.
let alone do they have any conception of the real hard work that goes into gritty science. nor do they have a clue that most science in inconlusory if not outright false, and that the 'progess' of science and engineering is usually accomplished over long unpredictable periods with far more failure and false success than anything the could be imagined up by sci-fi movie producers. this the reason i wouldn't really call myself i futurist. funny how most futurists are aethesists for the wrong reasons and how they cannot square away the idea of a scientist being a religious god-fearing person. the sad dead end 'transhumanist' philosophy seems to them a comprehensive solution to the existential conflict we all phase. but to them, the answer is as simple as , we'll end pain , live forever , eliminate all problems and beam up our consciousness.
the reason i would call myself a futurist is because i am here, typing on a 'screen' to a community of people on the 'internet' at a dissident 'website'. if the magic implicit in the existance of the subjects and objects present in the sentence above is not to be taken at face value, then science and man-mankind himself must be credited for creating these things. frankly, having grown up without them, i feel these accomplishments are godly in nature despite knowing that , yes, we 'could' go back to the stoneage if necessary and leave them behind. but because i deeply prefer not to go back to the stoneage and thus i feel appreciative enough of these accomplishments to celebrate them by declaring myself as someone who believes deeply in the power of science and engineering to reshape mankind ( and not necessarily for the good----:) )
And by the way fellow humans, the ONLY way to supass the speed of light is to follow this time tested formula-2 X 10 Mgs of Lysergic acid dilethylamide X Bose headphones X VINYL LP of the Moddy Blues. This will take you way beyond the SOL and in turn bring you home so you can see the clusterfuck of the Trogs taking over the Planet Earth. That's what I heard anyways..........ready for takeoff?
Dude - 2 X 10 Mgs?
I think you mean 2 X 10 ugs, or you are a way more far out bitcz than most of the way out bitczes on this list...
'Course, bustin' speed of light is tough, but still...5 X 100 ug should do it.
SCIENTIST:-----People who know nothing until there is nothing left to know
time to de-CERN............