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Null Physics anyone?

I work at Oregon State University... and to my dismay I found the following this morning on their campus newsletter:

Null physics declared a ''significant contribution'' to modern physics (Forbes)

People are doubting the most fiercely held paradigm of modern physics - the Big Bang. According to the June 7-13 issue of New Scientist magazine, author Michael Brooks concludes that physicists may be forced to go back to the drawing board to develop better models to describe cosmic events. Null Physics may be the undoing of the Big Bang. With Null Physics, Terence Witt (founder and former CEO of Witt Biomedical Corporation, BSEE from Oregon State University) presents an intricate, four-dimensional expression of our universe in which energy and space constitute existence. Most importantly, the universe is infinite and eternal; it did not begin with a bang nor will it end with a whimper. With his analysis, Witt hopes to increase the public's awareness of fatal flaws in the Big Bang theory and to propel them to ask questions that lead to logical conclusions.

Soon I'll be able to post URLs. Until then, though, the article in Forbes is quite easy to find. I always ***KNEW*** new realms of physics would emerge in a business rag.
 
That's not a Forbes article, it's a press release. Witt wrote it up fed it into the maw of the Automated Press Release, and it got auto-posted on dozens of press release auto-feeds. Look around and you'll see the same thing all over the Web: "Null physics website hailed for amazing theory", "Terence Witt awes world", etc., on sites like pr-inside.com, pr.com, businesswire.com. Note the lack of a journalist's byline, the fawning language, and the words BUSINESS WIRE - PRESS RELEASE at the top.

As I've said before: Null Physics is a crackpot theory with a multi-million-dollar ad budget. I noticed this garbage on the Web feeds a few weeks ago---I wonder if he's given up on Smithsonian, Pop. Sci., etc.?
 
Null Physics is truly an amazing waste of money... I'm surprised it hasn't be featured on Opera. I'm anxiously awaiting it to be adopted by TM groups wanting to legitimize The Secret and other pseudo-physics scams.

I will laugh and cry.
 
That's not a Forbes article, it's a press release. Witt wrote it up fed it into the maw of the Automated Press Release, and it got auto-posted on dozens of press release auto-feeds. Look around and you'll see the same thing all over the Web: "Null physics website hailed for amazing theory", "Terence Witt awes world", etc., on sites like pr-inside.com, pr.com, businesswire.com. Note the lack of a journalist's byline, the fawning language, and the words BUSINESS WIRE - PRESS RELEASE at the top.

As I've said before: Null Physics is a crackpot theory with a multi-million-dollar ad budget. I noticed this garbage on the Web feeds a few weeks ago---I wonder if he's given up on Smithsonian, Pop. Sci., etc.?

I can't believe Witt is still keeping up at this. Does he really think money can buy scientific fact?
 
New info on Null Physics.

#1 Terry has a new site, and it has forums!
I don't want to give him the page rank, but the site is called
www dot ourundiscovereduniverse dot com
It isn't technically open yet, but if you do some creative searching on google you can get into the forums.(You can pm me if you want a link that will get you there)

#2 I found this site that definitely establishes that Witt created Aridian publishing just for the purpose of his book. I've attached the associated pdf that has Witt listed as the signatory and owner of Aridian. It notes that he is doing business under a company name called Biotec....don't know what that is about.

(I know we all already knew that Aridian was a front for pushing his ideas, but having the evidence doesn't hurt.)
Also the site I found the fictitious name filing on
http://sunbiz.org/scripts/ficidet.exe?action=DETREG&docnum=G06338900432&rdocnum=G99188900052
 

Attachments

And you can sign up for the forums! And Terrywitt has posted to the forums. Since we don't have any other sources on his theory, I thought I post one of his claims from there to here.

terrywitt said:
Great questions

Ultrastasis

This is one of the most counterintuitive concepts in null physics; even more so than the summation to zero, because change is overwhelmingly manifest whereas our universe's composition at the level of infinite smallness is not visible.

The premise here is that the universe, in its entirety does not change. The local change we experience is just as real as the material in which the change is obvious. This, and the full extent of what we call 'reality' is available only because we are a part of the system, within the universe. So now take that whirling galaxy. It is a tiny bit of the total universal pattern, and it is reasonable to think that if we could be outside of the universe looking at this tiny bit, change would be evident. However, outside of the universe, this galaxy simply does not exist, nor does anything else. Existence is contextual, so it is not possible to make any comparisons across the summation to zero.

However, we can, from within the universe, compare the local universal pattern of an hour or billion years ago with the current pattern, and they are clearly different. If you extend this comparison to infinite distance in all directions, an interesting thing happens. The volume where you are performing your comparison becomes infinite, before you reach the entirety of the universe. In other words, the universe's volume is inf^3. It is so vast that it contains an infinite number of an infinite number of infinite volumes. Null physics refers to this property as ultraunboundedness. Once infinite volume is reached, it is no longer possible to do a direct one-to-one comparison between any two patterns, because they have no edges. In short, three-dimensional space is so large that it is big enough to contain its own history.

The other way to look at ultrastasis is that it is inevitable in any context. Even if our universe were flowing down some additional dimension of time (which it is not), this space-time construct, when taken in its entirety, is static. There could be any number of universes flowing the same direction, (there are not) but the total system would be static because each state is present from one moment of this gestalt 'space-time' to the next. So the difference between this inevitable stasis and ultrastasis is that the universes flowing through time, from state to state, are much smaller than three-dimensional space (omnielements versus omnipattern). Ultraunboundedness allows these vast distributions (moments) to move inexorably from one state to the next, clicking along.

If there were no causal relationship between omnielements (moments), three-dimensional space would be too small. In other words, in the absence of causality, where matter and energy could be distributed into space in any permutation, inf^3 is not big enough to hold them all. However, since states are determined by pre-existing states (and so on), causality reduces permutational variability so severely that our universe is large enough to contain its own history.

I've posted a response, insofar as I think his arguments from varying sizes of infinities are deeply flawed. For the most part his forums only contain a couple of posters and they all treat Terry like he is infallible. It seems like mainly they are patting each other on the back and praising Terry's virtues.
 
The reason that he is doing business under a company name called Biotec is that is the company he founded. From the nullphysics site:
Terence Witt is the founder and former CEO of Witt Biomedical Corporation, which during his tenure became the gold standard for cardiac hemodynamic software. He holds a BSEE from Oregon State University and began his professional career in semiconductor physics, where he wrote computer simulations for thin-film electromagnetic phenomena and held a patent for submicron electron beam lithography. He lives in Florida with his wife Ginny.

Terence has recently accepted the faculty position of Visiting Scientist at the Florida Institute of Technology, a school known for its exemplary astrophysics program. In his capacity as Visiting Scientist, to commence in January 2008, he will lecture on many of the concepts presented in Our Undiscovered Universe and pursue his Null Physics research.

What really worries me is the Florida Institute of Technology. Do they accept any crackpot as a Visiting Scientist?
I certainly hope that he did not buy the position. There are plenty of PR releases stating that he will be lecturing on Null Physics (I wonder where they came from?)

ETA: Maybe the FIT is more sensible than I thought. I can find no sign of Terence Witt as a current faculty member. Every reference in Google to him being at FIT seems to be the result of a press release!
 
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The reason that he is doing business under a company name called Biotec is that is the company he founded. From the nullphysics site:


What really worries me is the Florida Institute of Technology. Do they accept any crackpot as a Visiting Scientist?
I certainly hope that he did not buy the position. There are plenty of PR releases stating that he will be lecturing on Null Physics (I wonder where they came from?)

ETA: Maybe the FIT is more sensible than I thought. I can find no sign of Terence Witt as a current faculty member. Every reference in Google to him being at FIT seems to be the result of a press release!

I was curious, Biotec, is a different name than Witt Biomedical, I guess I was hoping that Witt had gotten interested in some other sort of woo.

I have a friend that went to FIT and my friend verified that Witt really does(at least did) have a position there. From what I heard 'faculty member' is a bit of an exaggeration. The indication I got was that Witt's position was 'peripheral'....I believe they said the rumor over at FIT was that 'Null Physics' was a very appropriate name for Witt's theory.

So I wouldn't worry about whatever Witt is doing over there, its not like he has collaborators in the department, I don't think they're gonna help him publish any papers. The people at FIT have a very accurate idea of what Witt is about.
 
Several months ago, I telephoned the FIT physics department to ask about Witt's status. According to the department, Witt was given (and I quote) "a courtesy 'visiting scientist' position" with "no research or teaching responsibilities".
 
In spite of the Standard models success it is unlikely to be the final theory.
Why the local gauge interactions?
Why the different state transformations?
Why no fractionally charged hadrons?
What is the origin of quark and lepton masses?
Why no gravity?
Why no detection of the Higgs boson?
Perhaps if this was understood then the origin of CP violations, the strong CP problem, the origin of cosmological matter/antimatter and the nature of dark matter would be solved.

The standard model has 19 arbitrary parameters which are chosen to fit the data.
Three arbitrary gauge couplings and thirteen parameters associated with 9 charged fermion masses.
The remaining three are the Higgs vacuum expectation value, quartic coupling and the QCD theta parameter.
In addition, there are at least nine additional parameters in the neutrino sector, these being three masses, three mixing angles and three phases.
Clearly there are too many arbitrary parameters and too many unresolved issues for the standard model to be considered complete. Many aspects of the standard model seem unnatural.
The present model sets neutrino masses equal to zero which requires a fine tuning conspiracy and in general makes the theory unnatural and unsatisfactory.
The only hope is for a unified theory.

Within the context of the standard model, big bang nucleosynthesis becomes a zero parameter theory (null physics???).
Big bang nucleosynthesis is the boundary between the established and speculative cosmology.
CMB data puts limits on parameters which are relevant for particle physics models.
It is quite possible that the “new physics” lying beyond the standard model may lie well beyond the reach of direct accelerator experiments.
Now, I could go on and on about these issues, but I wont.
Just consider the “arrogant self professed experts” who can’t ask the question “WHY” and can only dismiss Terry Witt as a crackpot.
I am not his or any ones sock puppet, just a free thinker and I would side with Witt on the statements he makes in his adverts.
Theoretical physics has been stagnant for many years, String theory has produced nothing testable in thirty years other than 10^500 possible solutions.
Quantum physics and General Relativity are still incompatible and mathematical symmetries becomes numerology, not science.
No telescope or particle accelerator of any size is going to provide the required answers and when no-one asks WHY then there will be no understanding.
So, I will buy his book and read it, which is more than any of you self proclaimed experts are prepared to do. I mean is 60 bucks going to break the bank. If it is then you should be more worried about where your next meal is coming from rather than the state of physics.
I doubt if Witts motivation is money, whereas JREF makes no secret of its financial aims.
How many thousand dollars for a meeting with Randi?
People who live in precarious glass houses shouldn’t really throw stones!
 
^^^

Hey hey look!! There are problems with *Established Theory*!! That means that you should pay attention to *Underdog Theory* even though it can't stand on it's own merits!!
 
^^^

Hey hey look!! There are problems with *Established Theory*!! That means that you should pay attention to *Underdog Theory* even though it can't stand on it's own merits!!
Well the problems with the established theories are real problems.
Now as far as the underdog theory goes, I guess I will read it before dismissing it as crackpot.

Perhaps it is time to think out the box.:boxedin: I wouldnt dismiss it based on what I have read so far on this forum. Even Einstein made some mistakes and look what he produced.

The point is that so far this forum has dismissed him as a crackpot based on arguments which are rely on incomplete theories. I dont think that its fair to say that Witts theories cant stand on its own merits if you havent read the theory. Just his advert is a truthful indictment of the current state of physics and based on that I am prepared to spend the 60 bucks and at the current exchange rate that is about 500 ZAR.

Not a great deal of money for an alternative opinion, even it it does turn out to be incorrect. I dont understand how Witt can be construed as a scam artist. He by all accounts doesn't need the money. Incidentally the ad came to my attention in the june 2008 edition of Astronomy
 
You are correct that current physics is incomplete and there are a number of questions left to answer.

I do not know what several of your questions are about but:
Why no fractionally charged hadrons? Answer: Quantum chromodynamics
What is the origin of quark and lepton masses? Answer: The Higgs boson.
Why no gravity? Answer: Coming real soon now - look up string theory, especially M-theory
Why no detection of the Higgs boson? Answer: Coming real soon now: Large Hadron Collider.

The problem with null physics is that it is even more incomplete than standard physics. OUU is basically about cosmology with some quantum stuff mixed in. Even the author states that it is not a replacement for some theories (I forget which)



Skeptics note that
  • This is a book that is published by a company set up by the author for that purpose.
  • There is a large PR campaign promoting the book.
  • There are no known peer reviews of the book or null physics.
This does not make null physics invalid. But it does make them wonder whether it is worth investing time (or money) looking at it.
 
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Why no fractionally charged hadrons? Answer: Quantum chromodynamics
[/URL]What is the origin of quark and lepton masses? Answer: The Higgs boson.
Why no gravity? Answer: Coming real soon now - look up string theory, especially M-theory[/URL]
Why no detection of the Higgs boson? Answer: Coming real soon now: Large Hadron Collider.

The problem with null physics is that it is even more incomplete than standard physics.


But it does make them wonder whether it is worth investing time (or money) looking at it.

Hi Reality Check

QCD does not answer the fractionally charged hadron issue.
the Higgs boson is yet to be discovered so I fail to understand how it can explain anything.
M theory probably has as many holes in it as null physics and string theory really explains nothing.
If the LHC does not discover the Higgs boson, Do we build an accelerator between Sirius and earth? Whats the next step from LHC?

Any theory that could possibly provide some insight in how to advance theoretical physics should be invested in and not dismissed out of hand in this manner.
Terry Witt has invested a load of money into it.
What for? To make a fool of himself? ?.Make more money when he doesn't need it?
 
Hi Skwinty
Hi Reality Check
QCD does not answer the fractionally charged hadron issue.
It does:
Quantum chromodynamics (abbreviated as QCD) is a theory of the strong interaction (color force), a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons found in hadrons (particles made of quarks or gluons, such as the proton, neutron or pion). It is the study of the SU(3) Yang–Mills theory of color-charged fermions (the quarks). QCD is a quantum field theory of a special kind called a non-abelian gauge theory. It is an important part of the Standard Model of particle physics. A huge body of experimental evidence for QCD has been gathered over the years.
QCD enjoys two peculiar properties:
  • Asymptotic freedom, which means that in very high-energy reactions, quarks and gluons interact very weakly. This prediction of QCD was first discovered in the early 1970s by David Politzer and by Frank Wilczek and David Gross. For this work they were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • Confinement, which means that the force between quarks does not diminish as they are separated. Because of this, it would take an infinite amount of energy to separate two quarks; they are forever bound into hadrons such as the proton and the neutron. Although analytically unproven, confinement is widely believed to be true because it explains the consistent failure of free quark searches, and it is easy to demonstrate in lattice QCD.
the Higgs boson is yet to be discovered so I fail to understand how it can explain anything.
M theory probably has as many holes in it as null physics and string theory really explains nothing.
If the LHC does not discover the Higgs boson, Do we build an accelerator between Sirius and earth? Whats the next step from LHC?
That is right - the Higgs boson has not been dicovered yet. The theory of the Higgs boson explains the origin of the mass of everything.
The next step from the LHC is the the upgrade due in the next decade.

Any theory that could possibly provide some insight in how to advance theoretical physics should be invested in and not dismissed out of hand in this manner.
Terry Witt has invested a load of money into it.
What for? To make a fool of himself? ?.Make more money when he doesn't need it?
Null physics has not been dismissed out of hand. People are just waiting for it to be peer reviewed.
 
Hi Reality Check

QCD does not answer the fractionally charged hadron issue.
As RC says, yes it does.

the Higgs boson is yet to be discovered so I fail to understand how it can explain anything.
You're question was "why no detection of the Higgs boson?"
As if that is an SM failure. But the SM limits are perfectly consistent with us not having reached high enough energy yet.

M theory probably has as many holes in it as null physics and string theory really explains nothing.
If the LHC does not discover the Higgs boson, Do we build an accelerator between Sirius and earth? Whats the next step from LHC?
IF, and its a big IF, the LHC doesn't find the Higgs then someone may have to come up with another theory. But one that's consistent with what we do observe. From what I've read, Null Physics is not such a theory.

Any theory that could possibly provide some insight in how to advance theoretical physics should be invested in and not dismissed out of hand in this manner.
Thats correct. I'm sure when we see such a theory it'll get a lot of attention.
 
Hi Reality Check

You are missing my point wrt fractionally charged hadrons.

The SM gauge interactions of quarks and leptons are totally fixed by their gauge charges. If we understood the origin of this charge quantization, we would understand why there are no fractionally charged hadrons.

Hi Tubbythin

You are optimistic about reaching the required energy levels.
I doubt that this energy level is achievable with out making the accelerator the size of the universe.

At no time did I intimate that the null physics theory is the theory to replace all theories. What I did intimate that it may help to get us to think outside the box and consider something else. Please remember, I , like everyone else on this forum have not read the theory and have just looked at the excerpts.

The problem is when the "right theory" arrives, how will you recognise it with out dismissing it as crackpot. The chances are it will be way out of the current paradigm just as null physics is.

As far as the statement that null physics is not rejected out of hand, what does crackpot , nutcase woo woo imply?
 
Hi Reality Check

You are missing my point wrt fractionally charged hadrons.

The SM gauge interactions of quarks and leptons are totally fixed by their gauge charges. If we understood the origin of this charge quantization, we would understand why there are no fractionally charged hadrons.
Hi Skwinty

I think I see your point now. Confinement means that we cannot create fractionally charged hadrons by removing quarks. But why do quarks not form hadrons that are already fractionally charged?

I think that the simple answer is that the charges (-1/3 and +2/3) for the quarks and the gauge group of QCD means that quarks always form hadrons with non-fractional charges.
However that leaves the questions of why the quarks have the charge that they have and why does QCD have that gauge group?
 
At no time did I intimate that the null physics theory is the theory to replace all theories. What I did intimate that it may help to get us to think outside the box and consider something else. Please remember, I , like everyone else on this forum have not read the theory and have just looked at the excerpts.

The problem is when the "right theory" arrives, how will you recognise it with out dismissing it as crackpot. The chances are it will be way out of the current paradigm just as null physics is.

Look at it this way: the Standard Model can't tell you why the QCD gauge group is what it is. String theory might do so someday. Some heretofore-unimagined theory might do so instead. Meanwhile, "Null Physics", the theory that you hope will provide some insights, comes from a guy who thinks that hadrons are just excitations of a proton-electron bound state---which is as much as to say that he doesn't think that quarks, confinement, color, or flavor have any meaning at all. What sort of excitations? He has no idea, but he can sort of draw a semiclassical mental picture of it, and he's optimistic that if he figures out the details he'll be proven right. He wants nuclei to be semiclassical, crystal-like structures with rigid geometries. Ugh.

Tell me, in what possible circumstance is this going to help us think outside the box about QCD? While I don't know what the outlines of Grand Unified Theory will be, I'm pretty darn sure that it will include some relativistic quantum mechanics, rather than ignoring it as an unimportant detail which can be added later; I'm pretty darn sure that the Final Theory won't claim that "quarks" are a misconception which was massaged out of the data by adding free parameters. (Seriously, read Witt's posts here, his book excerpts and "whitepapers" on his web page, and you'll see what I'm talking about.)

Imagine saying, "I know that Flat Earth theory isn't the ultimate theory, but since modern solar-system-formation theories are flawed too, maybe Flat Earthers will help us think outside the box." Sure, thinking outside the box is great, but ... well, if your source-of-inspiration is going to be some body of work with no connection to the relevant data, I don't see why Terence Witt is any more inspirational than, say, Jackson Pollack, or Salman Rushdie, or Mozart.
 

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