Where to discuss new theories.

  • #1
JohnS
Hi,

Fairly new to the forum, but trying to post some ideas on new ways to look at gravity, but not sure where the correct place is. Where is the best place to discuss new ideas please?

John.
 
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  • #2
If you mean "theories that are in published literature but not yet accepted by everyone",then Beyond the Standard Model is the correct forum. If you mean "something you made up" then pretty much any other science forum on the net will let you discuss it, but Physics Forums insists on "published" as a minimum standard to avoid wasting everyone's time.
 
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  • #3
JohnS said:
Fairly new to the forum, but trying to post some ideas on new ways to look at gravity, but not sure where the correct place is. Where is the best place to discuss new ideas please?
That is the purpose of the peer reviewed scientific literature. You should write your new ideas as a scientific paper and submit it to a reputable journal.

Once it is published there then we can discuss it here. We do not provide any form of pre-publication support here.
 
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  • #4
Thanks Ibix and Dale,

So discussions on ideas about new thoughts and new possible theory's would be best posting on other forums? which forums would you recommend?

Thanks,

John.
 
  • #5
I avoid such forums. That is the reason I am here. I don’t recommend any of them. I recommend publishing in professional scientific literature.
 
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  • #6
Hi Dale, that's why I'm here, so maybe I've misunderstood.

I want to post some ideas about physics that 'could' lead to a new theory, I just want to discuss them with physicists to see if anyone could help especially with the math and laying the foundation for experimentation to maybe prove the ideas have substance. Which would be the best area in the physics forums to post my ideas?

Thanks Again,
 
  • #7
JohnS said:
I want to post some ideas about physics that 'could' lead to a new theory,
Do a physics undergraduate degree. Follow this up with a PhD and post-doctoral research in your chosen field.

But, hey, that's 10 years of hard graft. So, you'd rather lounge in an armchair, dream up some half-baked ideas in the vain hope of becoming the first great physicist of the 21st Century?
 
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  • #8
JohnS said:
So discussions on ideas about new thoughts and new possible theory's would be best posting on other forums? which forums would you recommend?
None of them. These discussions are inherently unproductive and have never, ever produced new physics. I would argue that they are, in fact, entirely counter to a science discussion since the arguments are virtually never based on high quality observations and experiments backed up by a rigorous mathematical framework, but on poorly designed and constructed experiments, strange ideas, bad math, and lots and lots of wishful thinking.

JohnS said:
I want to post some ideas about physics that 'could' lead to a new theory, I just want to discuss them with physicists to see if anyone could help especially with the math and laying the foundation for experimentation to maybe prove the ideas have substance.
With respect, I can guarantee you right now that you don't have anything that could lead to a new theory. The fact that you are asking for help with the math tells me this straight away. The math IS the theory. That is, math is the language and logic of theory and unless you have constructed a coherent mathematical framework then you don't have anything at all.

JohnS said:
Which would be the best area in the physics forums to post my ideas?
None. We do not discuss personal theories here at PF. As frustrating and harsh as this might be, we believe that this actually keeps PF at a very high standard when it comes to science discussion. We tried allowing personal ideas and theories in the past and have found that these discussions never led anywhere good and only served to add 'noise' to the forum. There's nothing more frustrating that explaining for the nth time to the nth member that they aren't the next Einstein and their five-page power point presentation isn't a theory. And then having them call us close-minded buffoons for not blindly accepting their ideas.

If you want to learn science, then you are welcome to join us here at PF. But if you want to create new theories then you're going to need to spend a decade learning enough of what science already knows to be able to push beyond the known boundaries to new science. Again, this all may sound harsh, but there's a reason we don't generally have new theories being developed by a couple of guys in a basement somewhere, instead requiring multi-million or multi-billion dollar projects and teams of scientists and engineers to make progress. All the low-hanging fruit has already been discovered.
 
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  • #9
PeroK said:
Do a physics undergraduate degree. Follow this up with a PhD and post-doctoral research in your chosen field.

But, hey, that's 10 years of hard graft. So, you'd rather lounge in an armchair, dream up some half-baked ideas in the vain hope of becoming the first great physicist of the 21st Century?
So rather than discussing observation based ideas and possibilities, doing thought experiments and talking about ideas with other people who might understand and benefit from it, I have to study for 10 Years so I'll be able to do that in my 70's when I frankly won't remember halve the stuff I theorized over seems very narrow minded and very elitist. What qualifications did Einstein need to think about how the universe worked and talk about what he thought with likeminded people.

I don't understand what Physics Forums is about then, but thanks anyway.
 
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  • #10
JohnS said:
What qualifications did Einstein need to think about how the universe worked and talk about what he thought with likeminded people.
Albert Einstein had a PhD in physics.
JohnS said:
I have to study for 10 Years so I'll be able to do that in my 70's when I frankly won't remember halve the stuff I theorized over seems very narrow minded and very elitist.
Yeah, it's tough to get to the forefront of any scientific discipline.
 
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  • #11
JohnS said:
What qualifications did Einstein need to think about how the universe worked and talk about what he thought with likeminded people.
Eight to ten years of schooling and experience and communication with the professional scientific community of his time. What did you expect? Einstein was a professional scientist. He had a PHD and regularly met or corresponded with other professional scientists. I don't understand why so many people believe otherwise. He was not a loner in a patent office toiling away in solitude.

JohnS said:
So rather than discussing observation based ideas and possibilities, doing thought experiments and talking about ideas with other people who might understand and benefit from it, I have to study for 10 Years so I'll be able to do that in my 70's when I frankly won't remember halve the stuff I theorized over seems very narrow minded and very elitist.
And now we come to insults. I'm sorry you feel our policy is 'elitist' but nature holds a very, very high standard. It demands that we spend lifetimes teasing out every drop of knowledge we have about it, and making it so that every advancement in our understanding also entails that things become even more difficult for future scientists to make progress. Three-hundred years ago you could develop a high quality theory in your basement using what we today would consider extremely crude instruments and math that a modern undergrad learns. Today we have to collide particles together using billion-dollar colliders or observe huge numbers of stars with entire arrays of giant telescopes just to inch forward. The chance that you've discovered something new, especially when it comes to gravity, is so low that I would put it at 'probability zero' (not to be confused with impossible).

Since we've gotten to the point of insults being thrown around I think it's time to close this thread. If anyone has any questions, concerns, or comments please contact myself or another mentor.

Thread locked.

Edit: For anyone unaware, PF rules, which everyone agreed to when they signed up for a forum account, prohibits discussion of personal theories. Please see the Terms and Rules link in the Info dropdown at the top of the page for more information.
 
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