Balls and Walnuts
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The five faces of God
Having much fun over at the Discovery News website — specifically, comments to the article The Higgs Boson May Have ‘Five Faces’.
For example, Charles and Lubos can’t seem to agree whether it’s correct to say “down to the Planck scale” or “up to the Planck scale,” and I fear they may come to blows over the difference of one word. From Lubos,
Dear Charles, in this physics terminology, “Planck scale” means “Planck energy”. If you still don’t understand this simple point, you should patiently sit down and modestly learn that it is the case and why it is the case, instead of spreading arrogant (and wrong) statements on the Internet.
Once again, the right wording is “up to the Planck scale”, not “down to the Planck scale”, because the Planck scale is at the very top. I agree that precise language is needed in an exact science. That’s why I am correcting your errors.
Meanwhile, the starry-eyed crowd has to put in their two cents. From commenter Thomas,
The five faces of the Higgs boson in ancient Indian philosophy are called the tanmatras(five senses) which then produce the mahbutas(five gross elements), akasa (aether), ap (water), agni (fire), prithvi (earth), and vayu (wind). Always brings a smile when modern science grasps a little of the ancient wisdom. We truly do not need super colliders, we are the super colliders. All of these elements can be observed in meditation, as observed by ancient paintings of the DNA helix, molecules, and mitochondria. Control the breath, still the mind, there you will find a more perfect laboratory, and save a ton of money and resources. =)
To which Terry replies,
Thomas, does it not bother you that you are talking complete and utter sh!te?
No response yet from Thomas.
Watch the video in that link. Starts out simply enough, rapidly descends into postgraduate physics.
Also at Discovery News: Cinema’s Top 5 Time Travel Techniques.
D.
