Name: Anonymous 2007-05-31 16:35 ID:R0m406gK
Crackpot of the week: Mark McCutcheon, writer of the book "The Final Theory".
Apparently he has been in the crazy business for a few years, but recently I've started seeing google ads to this book pop up on anything physics related.
The title says it all. From the website, at http://www.thefinaltheory.com :
>... Are you aware of the verified failures of even our most celebrated theories, such as the Big Bang, Special Relativity
>and General Relativity? And did you know that a solid new theory has arrived that resolves many of the questions that
>still baffle even our best scientists?
It goes on to promise a simple, new and revolutionary way to look at physics, if only you will buy the book. Luckily, there are some free samples offered on the website. There is a very illuminating page listing some common errors in science today. A sample:
In fact, it is very easy to debunk even our simplest beliefs about light today. For example, it is currently believed light-waves
>somehow "cancel" in "destructive interference" when they meet out of phase so that the peaks of one wave coincide with the
>valleys of another. Yet, a simple experiment crossing 2 light-beams from common laser pointers shows that it is impossible >for light to vanish into thin air simply because 2 beams are mis-aligned (out of phase). In fact, it is a violation of
>the Law Of Conservation Of Energy to even expect this to occur. Light is not a mysterious quantum-mechanical wave->particle entity, but something much simpler to understand.
The true nature of light is finally exposed in
>Ch. 5 since the new subatomic principle from
>from Ch. 4 also relates to energy of all types.
And of course:
>Q: Why is Einstein's Special Relativity Theory so bizarre? Is our universe really that strange?
>
>A: Einstein's Special Relativity Theory is all a mistake. Not only can clear errors be found in all supporting experiments and
>thought experiments, but even Einstein's own mathematical support for his theory has clear fatal errors.
Overall the page is a fascinating example of how far it is possible to take a grade school level confusion of the physical concept of 'work'. ("But it's tiring to push a big boulder, even if it doesn't move, so I must be doing work on it, right?")
The book has apparently had suspiciously high ratings on Amazon, to the point that someone started a blog campaign for sending in one-star reviews, which were promptly deleted. It currently ranks four and a half star.
This guy would be up there with the flakiest of them, except he doesn't really seem sincere about it. One thing is that the theory is so full of holes and misconceptions that even a basic physics highschool education would shatter it to pieces.
The other is the constant referal to the book for details, even though he could clearly just present the results on the web page if he really was interested in getting traction for his new and revolutionary theory.
I'm thus forced to conclude that he's just a scammer, knowingly trying to lure high school dropouts to buy his garbage physics book.
Overall, a very high level of crackpottery, but doesn't really seem heartfelt. Somwhere around... say, 8/10.
Apparently he has been in the crazy business for a few years, but recently I've started seeing google ads to this book pop up on anything physics related.
The title says it all. From the website, at http://www.thefinaltheory.com :
>... Are you aware of the verified failures of even our most celebrated theories, such as the Big Bang, Special Relativity
>and General Relativity? And did you know that a solid new theory has arrived that resolves many of the questions that
>still baffle even our best scientists?
It goes on to promise a simple, new and revolutionary way to look at physics, if only you will buy the book. Luckily, there are some free samples offered on the website. There is a very illuminating page listing some common errors in science today. A sample:
In fact, it is very easy to debunk even our simplest beliefs about light today. For example, it is currently believed light-waves
>somehow "cancel" in "destructive interference" when they meet out of phase so that the peaks of one wave coincide with the
>valleys of another. Yet, a simple experiment crossing 2 light-beams from common laser pointers shows that it is impossible >for light to vanish into thin air simply because 2 beams are mis-aligned (out of phase). In fact, it is a violation of
>the Law Of Conservation Of Energy to even expect this to occur. Light is not a mysterious quantum-mechanical wave->particle entity, but something much simpler to understand.
The true nature of light is finally exposed in
>Ch. 5 since the new subatomic principle from
>from Ch. 4 also relates to energy of all types.
And of course:
>Q: Why is Einstein's Special Relativity Theory so bizarre? Is our universe really that strange?
>
>A: Einstein's Special Relativity Theory is all a mistake. Not only can clear errors be found in all supporting experiments and
>thought experiments, but even Einstein's own mathematical support for his theory has clear fatal errors.
Overall the page is a fascinating example of how far it is possible to take a grade school level confusion of the physical concept of 'work'. ("But it's tiring to push a big boulder, even if it doesn't move, so I must be doing work on it, right?")
The book has apparently had suspiciously high ratings on Amazon, to the point that someone started a blog campaign for sending in one-star reviews, which were promptly deleted. It currently ranks four and a half star.
This guy would be up there with the flakiest of them, except he doesn't really seem sincere about it. One thing is that the theory is so full of holes and misconceptions that even a basic physics highschool education would shatter it to pieces.
The other is the constant referal to the book for details, even though he could clearly just present the results on the web page if he really was interested in getting traction for his new and revolutionary theory.
I'm thus forced to conclude that he's just a scammer, knowingly trying to lure high school dropouts to buy his garbage physics book.
Overall, a very high level of crackpottery, but doesn't really seem heartfelt. Somwhere around... say, 8/10.