“surfer dude” defends E8 theory

THIS ARTICLE from Scientific American is actually from May 2011, and I don’t know what’s happened with “surfer dude” physicist Garrett Lisi’s theory since then. But it’s enjoyable to read Lisi’s calm response to various interesting objections to the theory.

Here’s one of his responses that is less about the science involved than about the manner in which Lisi chose to present his results, and readers of this blog may find that it bears some relation to other topics we’ve discussed here:

“8. Old-school scientists have dismissed E8 Theory for not being peer reviewed and published. Personally, I am not climbing an academic ladder and I enjoy an open exchange of ideas, so I did not feel the need to submit my original 2007 paper to a traditional journal, although I was invited to do so. Most physicists today rely on openly posted electronic preprints rather than journals. However, two E8 Theory papers have now been peer reviewed and gone to publication without difficulty.”

The original story in the Telegraph is perhaps the greatest-ever “sounds like The Onion, but is reality” news story that we’ve ever seen. You can read it HERE.