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'Not even wrong' is a pejorative applied to purported scientific arguments that are perceived to be based on invalid reasoning or speculative premises that can neither be proven correct nor falsified and thus cannot be discussed in a rigorous, scientific sense.[1] For a meaningful discussion on whether a certain statement is true or false, the statement must satisfy the criterion of falsifiability, the inherent possibility for the statement to be tested and found false. In this sense, the phrase 'not even wrong' is synonymous to 'nonfalsifiable'.[1]
Read 'Not Even Wrong A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism' by Paul Collins available from Rakuten Kobo. Sign up today and get $5 off your first purchase. In Not Even Wrong, Paul Collins melds a memoir of his son's autism with a journey into this realm of permanent outsiders.
The phrase is generally attributed to theoretical physicistWolfgang Pauli, who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or careless thinking.[2][3]Rudolf Peierls documents an instance in which 'a friend showed Pauli the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli's views. Pauli remarked sadly, 'It is not even wrong'.'[4] This is also often quoted as 'That is not only not right; it is not even wrong', or in Pauli's native German, 'Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!'. Peierls remarks that quite a few apocryphal stories of this kind have been circulated and mentions that he listed only the ones personally vouched for by him. He also quotes another example when Pauli replied to Lev Landau, 'What you said was so confused that one could not tell whether it was nonsense or not.'[4]
The phrase is often used to describe pseudoscience or bad science.[1]
See also
References
- ^ abcOliver Burkeman (September 19, 2005). 'Not even wrong'. The Guardian.
- ^Shermer M (2006). 'Wronger Than Wrong'. Scientific American.
- ^Jung, C. G.; Pauli, Wolfgang; Meier, C. A.; Zabriskie, Beverley; Roscoe, David (2014-07-01). Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932–1958. Princeton University Press. p. xxxiii. ISBN 978-0-691-16147-1.
- ^ abPeierls, R. (1960). 'Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, 1900–1958'. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 5: 186. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1960.0014.
External links
- Quotations related to Wolfgang Pauli at Wikiquote
The Bogdanov affair is an academic dispute regarding the legitimacy of a series of theoretical physics papers written by French twins Igor and Grichka Bogdanov (alternately spelt Bogdanoff). These papers were published in reputable scientific journals, and were alleged by their authors to culminate in a proposed theory for describing what occurred at the Big Bang.
The controversy began in 2002 when Max Niedermaier, a physicist at the University of Tours, emailed Ted Newman, a physicist at the University of Pittsburgh, alleging that the twins—who had previously gained celebrity status for a science fiction television program in France—had 'spoofed' their PhD theses. Rumors spread on Usenet newsgroups that the work was a deliberate hoax intended to target weaknesses in the peer review system employed by the physics community to select papers for publication in academic journals. While the Bogdanov brothers continued to defend the veracity of their work, the debate over whether or not the work represented a contribution to physics spread from Usenet to many other Internet forums, including the blogs of notable physicists. The ensuing dispute received considerable coverage in the mainstream media. A Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) internal report eventually concluded that their theses had no scientific value.The authors have Ph.D. degrees from the University of Burgundy; Grichka Bogdanov received his degree in mathematics, and Igor Bogdanov received his in theoretical physics (in 1999 and 2002 respectively). Both were given the low, unusual, but passing grade of 'honorable'; Igor initially failed and was required to publish three papers in peer-reviewed journals before being given a degree. When later challenges to the legitimacy of the Bogdanovs' papers arose, the debate spread to the question of whether a publication requirement is a valid means of evaluating students' work. The incident also prompted considerable reflection among physicists as to how and why the peer review system can fail.
BullshitBullshit (also bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism BS. In British English, 'bollocks' is a comparable expletive. It is mostly a slang term and a profanity which means 'nonsense', especially as a rebuke in response to communication or actions viewed as deceptive, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection, or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. A person who communicates nonsense on a given subject may be referred to as a 'bullshit artist'.
In philosophy and psychology of cognition the term 'bullshit' is sometimes used to specifically refer to statements produced without particular concern of truth, to distinguish from a deliberate, manipulative lie intended to subvert the truth.While the word is generally used in a deprecatory sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, among others, analyzed the concept of bullshit as related to, but distinct from, lying.
As an exclamation, 'Bullshit!' conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but this usage need not be a comment on the truth of the matter.
Category mistakeA category mistake, or category error, or categorical mistake, or mistake of category, is a semantic or ontological error in which things belonging to a particular category are presented as if they belong to a different category, or, alternatively, a property is ascribed to a thing that could not possibly have that property. An example is the metaphor 'time crawled', which if taken literally is not just false but a category mistake. To show that a category mistake has been committed one must typically show that once the phenomenon in question is properly understood, it becomes clear that the claim being made about it could not possibly be true.
Dunning–Kruger effectIn the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, people cannot objectively evaluate their competence or incompetence.As described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the cognitive bias of illusory superiority results from an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability; that is, 'the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.'
French catheter scaleThe French scale or French gauge system is commonly used to measure the size of a catheter. It is most often abbreviated as Fr, but can often be seen abbreviated as Fg, FR or F. It may also be abbreviated as CH or Ch (for Charrière, its inventor). However, simply gauge, G or GA generally refers to Birmingham gauge.The French size is three times the diameter in millimeters. A round catheter of 1 French has an external diameter of 1⁄3 mm, and therefore the diameter of a round catheter in millimetres can be determined by dividing the French size by 3:
D (mm) = Fr / 3
or
Fr = D (mm) * 3
For example, if the French size is 9, the diameter is 9/3 = 3.0; mm. It is seen that the French unit is fully redundant with the metric system but introduces potential for rounding errors. This metrication problem is further complicated by the mixed use of metric and imperial units in medical professions using catheters. As such, it may be seen simply as an annoyance for an engineer designing catheters.
From the basic math equation C = πd, it follows that the catheter's circumference in mm is only slightly (about 4.7%) greater than the French size. Even though this relation is not-even-wrong, one could just have defined the French as 1mm/π.
An increasing French size corresponds to a larger external diameter. This is contrary to Birmingham gauge, where an increasing gauge corresponds to a smaller diameter needle.
The French size is a measure of the outer diameter of a catheter (not internal drainage channel, or inner diameter). So, for example, if a two-way catheter of 20 Fr is compared to a 20 Fr three-way catheter, they both have the same external diameter but the two-way catheter will have a larger drainage channel than the three-way. Three-way catheters accommodate an extra channel for irrigation within a similar external diameter.
The French gauge was devised by Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière, a 19th-century Parisian maker of surgical instruments, who defined the 'diameter times 3' relationship.
History of subatomic physicsThe idea that matter consists of smaller particles and that there exists a limited number of sorts of primary, smallest particles in nature has existed in natural philosophy at least since the 6th century BC. Such ideas gained physical credibility beginning in the 19th century, but the concept of 'elementary particle' underwent some changes in its meaning: notably, modern physics no longer deems elementary particles indestructible. Even elementary particles can decay or collide destructively; they can cease to exist and create (other) particles in result.
Increasingly small particles have been discovered and researched: they include molecules, which are constructed of atoms, that in turn consist of subatomic particles, namely atomic nuclei and electrons. Many more types of subatomic particles have been found. Most such particles (but not electrons) were eventually found to be composed of even smaller particles such as quarks. Particle physics studies these smallest particles and their behaviour under high energies, whereas nuclear physics studies atomic nuclei and their (immediate) constituents: protons and neutrons.
Index of philosophy of science articlesAn index list of articles about the philosophy of science.
MultiverseThe multiverse, also known as an omniverse or meta-universe, is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The different universes within the multiverse are called 'parallel universes', 'other universes', or 'alternate universes'.
Not even wrong (disambiguation)Not even wrong is a phrase in reference to arguments and theories that cannot be scientifically verified or used for scientific predictions.
Not Even Wrong may also refer to:
Not Even Wrong, a weblog and 2006 book by Peter Woit
Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism, a 2004 book by Paul Collins
Not Even Wrong: Margaret Mead, Derek Freeman, and the Samoans, a 1996 book about Margaret Mead by Martin Orans
Oliver GoldstickOliver Goldstick (born January 9, 1961) is an American television screenwriter and producer.
Most notably, Goldstick was the creator and executive producer of Inconceivable, a short-lived medical drama. He is credited as executive producer or co-executive producer of Pretty Little Liars, Ravenswood, Lipstick Jungle and The Court. He has been a writer and producer on several television series, including Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Everwood, Caroline in the City, American Dreams and Popular.
As a writer, he has worked on a number of series that also include State of Mind, Partners, Windfall and Down the Shore.He wrote the play with music Dinah Was, about the life of Dinah Washington. The play ran Off-Broadway in 1998.His play 'Wild Boy' explores the challenges of autism.
Paul Collins (American writer)Paul Collins (born January 12, 1969) is an American writer, editor and Chair of English at Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for his work with McSweeney's and The Believer, as editor of the Collins Library imprint for McSweeney's Books, and for his appearances on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon. His own books deal primarily with quirky forgotten figures from history, sometimes interwoven with memoir. Damian Kulash of the band OK Go has stated that the chapter in Collins' book 'Banvard's Folly' about Augustus Pleasonton's patent on blue light led to them naming their third album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky.
Peter WoitPeter Woit (; born September 11, 1957) is an American theoretical physicist. He is a senior lecturer in the Mathematics department at Columbia University. Woit, a critic of string theory, has published a book Not Even Wrong and writes a blog of the same name.
String theoryIn physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. It describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string looks just like an ordinary particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries gravitational force. Thus string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.
String theory is a broad and varied subject that attempts to address a number of deep questions of fundamental physics. String theory has been applied to a variety of problems in black hole physics, early universe cosmology, nuclear physics, and condensed matter physics, and it has stimulated a number of major developments in pure mathematics. Because string theory potentially provides a unified description of gravity and particle physics, it is a candidate for a theory of everything, a self-contained mathematical model that describes all fundamental forces and forms of matter. Despite much work on these problems, it is not known to what extent string theory describes the real world or how much freedom the theory allows in the choice of its details.
String theory was first studied in the late 1960s as a theory of the strong nuclear force, before being abandoned in favor of quantum chromodynamics. Subsequently, it was realized that the very properties that made string theory unsuitable as a theory of nuclear physics made it a promising candidate for a quantum theory of gravity. The earliest version of string theory, bosonic string theory, incorporated only the class of particles known as bosons. It later developed into superstring theory, which posits a connection called supersymmetry between bosons and the class of particles called fermions. Five consistent versions of superstring theory were developed before it was conjectured in the mid-1990s that they were all different limiting cases of a single theory in eleven dimensions known as M-theory. In late 1997, theorists discovered an important relationship called the AdS/CFT correspondence, which relates string theory to another type of physical theory called a quantum field theory.
One of the challenges of string theory is that the full theory does not have a satisfactory definition in all circumstances. Another issue is that the theory is thought to describe an enormous landscape of possible universes, and this has complicated efforts to develop theories of particle physics based on string theory. These issues have led some in the community to criticize these approaches to physics and question the value of continued research on string theory unification.
Sturgeon's lawSturgeon's revelation (as originally expounded by Theodore Sturgeon), commonly referred to as Sturgeon's law, is an adage commonly cited as 'ninety percent of everything is crap.' The sentence derives from quotations by Sturgeon, an American science fiction author and critic; although Sturgeon coined another adage that he termed 'Sturgeon's law,' the 'ninety percent crap' remark has become Sturgeon's law.
The phrase was derived from Sturgeon's observation that while science fiction was often derided for its low quality by critics, the majority of examples of works in other fields could equally be seen to be of low quality, and that science fiction was thus no different in that regard from other art forms.
The Tao of PhysicsThe Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism is a 1975 book by physicist Fritjof Capra. It was a bestseller in the United States and has been published in 43 editions in 23 languages. The fourth edition in English was published in 2000.
The Trouble with PhysicsThe Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next is a 2006 book by the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin about the problems with string theory. The book strongly criticizes string theory and its prominence in contemporary theoretical physics, on the grounds that string theory has yet to come up with a single prediction that can be verified using any technology that is likely to be feasible within our lifetimes. Smolin also focuses on the difficulties faced by research in quantum gravity, and by current efforts to come up with a theory explaining all four fundamental interactions. The book is broadly concerned with the role of controversy and diversity of approaches in scientific processes and ethics.
Smolin suggests both that there appear to be serious deficiencies in string theory and that string theory has an unhealthy near-monopoly on fundamental physics in the United States, and that a diversity of approaches is needed. He argues that more attention should instead be paid to background independent theories of quantum gravity.
In the book, Smolin controversially claims that string theory makes no new testable predictions; that it has no coherent mathematical formulation; and that it has not been mathematically proved finite. Some experts in the theoretical physics community disagree with these statements.Smolin states that to propose a string theory landscape having up to 10500 string vacuum solutions is tantamount to abandoning accepted science:
The scenario of many unobserved universes plays the same logical role as the scenario of an intelligent designer. Each provides an untestable hypothesis that, if true, makes something improbable seem quite probable.
Truth-aptIn philosophy, to say that a statement is truth-apt is to say that it could be uttered in some context (without its meaning being altered) and would then express a true or false proposition.Truth-apt sentences are capable of being true or false, unlike questions or commands. Whether paradoxical sentences, prescriptions (especially moral claims), or attitudes are truth-apt is sometimes controversial.
Wolfgang PauliWolfgang Ernst Pauli (; German: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈpaʊli]; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian-born Swiss and American theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his 'decisive contribution through his discovery of a new law of Nature, the exclusion principle or Pauli principle'. The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter.
Wronger than wrongWronger than wrong, described by Michael Shermer as Asimov's axiom, is a mistake discussed in Isaac Asimov's book of essays The Relativity of Wrong. A statement that equates two errors is wronger than wrong when one of the errors is clearly more wrong than the other. As Asimov put it:
When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.
Asimov explains that science is both progressive and cumulative. Even though scientific theories are later proven wrong, the degree of their wrongness attenuates with time as they are modified in response to the mistakes of the past. For example, data collected from satellite measurements show, to a high level of precision, how the Earth's shape differs from a perfect sphere or even an oblate spheroid or a geoid.Shermer states that being wronger than wrong is actually worse than being not even wrong (that is, being unfalsifiable).According to John Jenkins, who reviewed The Relativity of Wrong, the title essay of Asimov's book is the one 'which I think is important both for understanding Asimov's thinking about science and for arming oneself against the inevitable anti-science attack that one often hears – [that] theories are always preliminary and science really doesn't 'know' anything'.
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