🚀 go-pugleaf

http://everything2.com/node/1681948
"John Baez [Fat Rat], a mathematical physicist at the University of
California Riverside, did the world a favor by creating a method of
scoring crackpot ideas. Baez, who works on the mathematics of string
theory and who's best known for his irregularly written but hugely
popular on-line column "This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics,"
created this list after moderating the science.physics.research (SPR)
newsgroup. His Crackpot Index has been reprinted many times.
Scientists smile quietly when they read it. Crackpots have a different
reaction: they get defensive and red in the face, and strenuously
object to his methods. Which is why true scientists will continue to
smile and applaud Baez's brilliant Index.
.................................
16. 10 points for arguing that while a current well-established theory
predicts phenomena correctly, it doesn't explain "why" they occur, or
fails to provide a "mechanism"."

A new addition to Fat Rat's brilliant Index:

35. 100 points for arguing that while current well-established
theories are "on the right track", the picture of the world they will
produce in the end will be "deeply schizophrenic" and therefore Fat
Rat and his criminal brothers should leave the sinking ship as soon as
possible:

http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_5.html
John Baez: "On the one hand we have the Standard Model, which tries to
explain all the forces except gravity, and takes quantum mechanics
into account.  On the other hand we have General Relativity, which
tries to explain gravity, and does not take quantum mechanics into
account. Both theories seem to be more or less on the right track --
but until we somehow fit them together, or completely discard one or
both, our picture of the world will be deeply schizophrenic.....I
realized I didn't have enough confidence in either theory to engage in
these heated debates.  I also realized that there were other questions
to work on: questions where I could actually tell when I was on the
right track, questions where researchers cooperate more and fight
less.  So, I eventually decided to quit working on quantum gravity."

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com