Is Michoi Kaku a fraud?

[warpus]

Scientific community doesn't matter anyway, asking for qualifications just serves as an ad hominem attack, so he could just as well be right as he could be wrong as there's no objective way to tell.

I don't know but my gut says maybe.

Asking for qualifications is not a ad hom. attack. I don't understand why people think this..

 

[Dida]

Asking for qualifications is not a ad hom. attack. I don't understand why people think this..

Concur. The burden of showing credential is on the one making a statement which he expects others to take seriously.

 

[emzie]

Asking for qualifications is not a ad hom. attack. I don't understand why people think this..

Asking for credentials is often a method to shut people out of a conversation. And it can be misused as an ad hom attack, yes.

Credentialism is short hand to figure out if someone speaking a about a topic you're not an expert in has any weight.

 

[Dida]

Kaku's credential, if any, is largely in string theory. I don't see how he's particularly qualified to talk about the effect of solar storm on our communication system, etc.

In fact, string theory itself has not gain full acceptance in the scientific community and some has flat out called it a failure:

"String theory has no credibility as a candidate theory of physics.
Recognizing failure is a userful part of the scientific strategy. Only
when failure is recognized can dead ends be abandoned and useable
pieces of failed programs be recycled. Aside from possible utility,
there is a responsibility to recognize failure. Recognizing failure
is an essential part of the scientific ethos. Complete scientific
failure must be recognized eventually." - Daniel Friedan, a former string theorist at Rutgers from hep-th/0204131

 

[warpus]

Asking for credentials is often a method to shut people out of a conversation. And it can be misused as an ad hom attack, yes.

Credentialism is short hand to figure out if someone speaking a about a topic you're not an expert in has any weight.

It can be, but almost anything can be used as an ad. hom attack. You don't eat bacon, therefore you are wrong. There

 

[emzie]

Kaku's credential, if any, is largely in string theory. I don't see how he's particularly qualified to talk about the effect of solar storm on our communication system, etc.

In fact, string theory itself has not gain full acceptance in the scientific community and some has flat out called it a failure:

Physicists have this bad habit of assuming that, since what they study is quite complicated, they can understand any "lesser" field.

It can be, but almost anything can be used as an ad. hom attack. You don't eat bacon, therefore you are wrong. There

I do eat bacon, therefore your argument is invalid. QED, female dog.

 

[Princeps]

Solar storms of this kind have happened before, in 1859

 

[tokala]

Physicists have this bad habit of assuming that, since what they study is quite complicated, they can understand any "lesser" field.

Nope.
Because physics and mathematics are the foundation of practically any field of science, we are usually at least decently equipped to make an educated guess on a random topic.
And after investing a bit of time, of grasping at least the basics more easily than "the average Joe"

Of course, a bad case of inflated ego might develop out of this, and people pontificating on stuff way out of their depth

Some good examples of the physicists style guestimation approach in action:
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/
http://www.withouthotair.com/

 

[emzie]

Nope.
Because physics and mathematics are the foundation of practically any field of science, we are usually at least decently equipped to make an educated guess on a random topic.
And after investing a bit of time, of grasping at least the basics more easily than "the average Joe"

Of course, a bad case of inflated ego might develop out of this, and people pontificating on stuff way out of their depth

Some good examples of the physicists style guestimation approach in action:
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/
http://www.withouthotair.com/

SMBC sums up life.

edit: I should clarify I'm speaking as a biologist, where physics doesn't easily lend itself to much.

 

[Narz]

A tomato is a fruit, I assume the "stupid" part is saying biologically rather than botanically?

 

[emzie]

Vegetable is a culinary term and has no biological or botanical meaning.

 

[Narz]

So something can be a fruit and a vegetable? Still seems a little silly. AFAIK fruit is a botanical term.

 

[bhsup]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable

There are at least four definitions relating to fruits and vegetables:

Fruit (botany): the ovary of a flowering plant (sometimes including accessory structures),
Fruit (culinary): any edible part of a plant with a sweet flavor,
Vegetable: any edible part of a plant with a savory flavor.
Vegetable (legal): commodities that are taxed as vegetables in a particular jurisdiction

...

The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is correctly identified as, and thus taxed as, a vegetable, for the purposes of the Tariff of 1883 on imported produce. The court did acknowledge, however, that, botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit.

 

[Narz]

Screw the courts, they think it's ok to detain American citizens indefinitely.

 

[Theov]

Look, if you predict disaster 100 times and one time it actually happens, you can say "see, told you so".
That's why there are scammers like these.
And a boring prediction is just that, boring. Take TV people with a pinch of salt - and then a bucket.

 

[Narz]

I'm a big fan of the precautionary principle. All he's saying is to make our systems more resiliant so in case of a worst case scenerio the least possible amount of damage is done.

Smart for hurricanes, tsunamis, electrical storms, global warming, what have you. It's not like he's saying to prepare for aliens from Neptune, as he said, it has happened before. It's likely it will happen again at some point (hopefully not 2012 or 2013).