Comments on: If he'd patented the idea, DC Comics would never have existed

If he'd patented the idea, DC Comics would never have existed

yerfatma — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:48:34 -0800

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives: Maybe you know e from eels. Most people (other than Sticherbeast) probably did not know his father was once a rock star physicist who first conceived of parallel universes (not that Neils Bohr was impressed). Last night, BBC4 aired a documentary on the trails both men followed.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:57:58 -0800

This entire story seems backward to me. I know 'e' primarily from his work in the alphabet. Whereas Hugh Everett, his father and described in the article as an "unrecognised genius", is well-known to me, though only as the name of the person who came up with the theory. He's certainly well-recognized in the "reading about crazy quantum stuff" community.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:00:54 -0800

...a rock star physicist who first conceived of parallel universes... Buckaroo Banzai?

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:01:02 -0800

Buckaroo Banzai is not impressed, either.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:01:17 -0800

Ha!

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:01:35 -0800

I like the song "Fresh Feeling." Or are we supposed to talk about science?

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:07:40 -0800

This entire story seems backward to me. There is the possibility this post represents a rift between two universes. We will invade.

By: kimota

kimota — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:26:42 -0800

Thanks for this, yerfatma! I played the hell out of Electro-Shock Blues when my grandmother died; I can't wait to check out these links!

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:34:12 -0800

Cue obvious "well actually, (sneer), I heard of the physicist first." metafilter style comments.

By: Parasite Unseen

Parasite Unseen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:43:40 -0800

Shortly after my ex and I broke up, I went through a period where I was just getting more and more depressed. Eventually, I got to the point where suicide was starting to sound not-altogether-bad, and so I talked to my roommate about the possibility of getting treatment. He pointed out that my iTunes had been playing Eels on loop for about three weeks. I changed the music, and felt better within days. I still love listening to my Eels albums, but I'm a lot more careful about limiting my exposure now. What all of that has to do with physics theory, I have no idea.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:48:42 -0800

Cue obvious "well actually, (sneer), I heard of the physicist first." metafilter style comments. Am I seriously the only person on MeFi that's heard of Hugh Everett and the many-worlds hypothesis?

By: rtha

rtha — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:06:13 -0800

I like "I Like Birds" best.

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:18:20 -0800

Am I seriously the only person on MeFi that's heard of Hugh Everett and the many-worlds hypothesis? No, that's fairly unlikely, given the eels never got all that famous (Shrek soundtracks notwithstanding). I just brought my context to the post, which looks a bit like a mistake in retrospect.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:23:03 -0800

The Dec. 2007 Scientific American has a great article about Everett (teaser here). Yet another example of a great mind who was not a great man, unfortunately. DU - Parallel universes are not one of seanyboy's skillz and hobbyz.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:51:39 -0800

I've recently been reading up on Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, the One Year After debacle and the upcoming Final Crisis and I gotta tell ya, none of this holds a candle to Wolfman, Pérez, and Giordano's work on Crisis on Infinite Earths of 1985. That was awesome back then. The rest of this so far is 'meh.' I wanna punch Booster Gold in the head just for being himself. Although I do have to admit that for a lesbian, Montoya is hot. ...What?

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:54:26 -0800

See title

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:24:14 -0800

I saw the title YerFatMa and I take umbrage at your assumption my mom is fat. If he'd patented the idea, DC woulda called it HyperPlanes of reality or something that Legal would nod.

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:42:51 -0800

lukemeister: Yet another example of a great mind who was not a great man, unfortunately. Yet another world-class genius who was fucked over by bullshit academic politics and being way ahead of his time, who probably never got over it, and, really, why the fuck would you expect that he would have? He's one example of a depressingly large number of such amazing talents squandered by our fucked-up society—and an object lesson for anyone naive enough to imagine that our culture values genius. I haven't read the Scientific American article, but it's probably crap. Check this out for another viewpoint.

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:47:37 -0800

<sneer>By the way, I had never heard of "e" until I read the biographical sketch of Hugh Everett linked in my previous comment.</sneer> I probably wouldn't have said that with a sneer until I read this comment, but now I will.

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:37:19 -0800

When Niels Bohr doesn't think your idea is important, it's not "getting fucked over by bullshit academic politics."

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:25:42 -0800

When your thesis advisor waters down your thesis because of "his wish not to spoil his relations with Bohr", I think "getting fucked over by bullshit academic politics", though perhaps hyperbolic, is still somewhere in the ballpark. Probably being ahead of his time was more of a factor, though. In any case, Bohr was a giant of modern physics, but not infallible.

By: Ira.metafilter

Ira.metafilter — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:59:37 -0800

Parasite Unseen: That's true, but Daisies of the Galaxy is my healing album. (One of them anyway.) The second half of Electro-Shock Blues, From Last Stop: This Town onwards, also. I once, when a friend's grandmother died, offered to lend her Daisies of the Galaxy in some sort of attempt to help. I was an idiot, but my belief in the healing powers of that album was genuine, and remains with me to this day.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:01:21 -0800

lukemeister : I commend your awesome cyber-stalking skills, but WTF. Your weird point is what? That I have a website? That it doesn't mention parallel universes? Linking to a site I created which has nothing to do with this particular conversation is (a) strange and (b) slightly intimidating. Take your meds and stop being a dick.

By: Crabby Appleton

Crabby Appleton — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:35:34 -0800

I skimmed the SciAm article, and it's not crap, so I apologize for my ill-advised slam. In fact, it provides more support for my case than the article I linked. And, seanyboy, "awesome cyber-stalking skills"? The name of your web site host machine is in your Metafilter profile. You made a dickish remark, he made a dickish retort, that's all there is to it. (Unless he shows up at your door or maxes out your credit cards, in which case I'll reconsider my assessment.)

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:38:41 -0800

There's more at work here than academic politics, from what I read. The thesis was submitted after he had already left the field for a job. Why he left is unclear. The guy had serious personality issues (Aspberger's syndrome comes to mind). The editing of the thesis might well have helped to keep the guy in academia. I've had students who did brilliant work who couldn't or wouldn't present it in a way that made it accessible to anyone else in the field. I look forward to the biography of the guy the Sci. Amer. author is writing.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:30:20 -0800

seanyboy, Sorry I was an asshat.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:44:17 -0800

Accepted. No worries. Sorry I pissed you off.