Thin skin

Sometimes in Skypeland, one meets a "know it all". I entered a cast with the following description:

God, UFO's and AstroPhysics

This show is for people who believe in God. We will rejoice in God through Science and His creation. We may discuss topics such as string theory, quantum mechanics, astrophysics, black holes, white holes, worm holes but no a-holes!

I thought it sounded promising and I listened to a long confused description of String Theory and Quantum Chromodynamics and Dark Energy and Dark Matter and Zero Point energy. I listened politely and then decided I would correct the host's misconceptions a bit. This did not go over very well.

I tried to tell him that String Theory had been replaced by M-Brane Theory. He dismissed this and said that String Theory is incorporated inside M-Brane theory. He did not understand why M-Brane Theory had been created, or who had created String Theory. At this point the host jumped down my throat and demanded to know my background. He said he had a degree in "applied mathematics" and a masters in "Business Management" so he was clearly more of an expert in theoretical physics than someone who did research in physics, since he lived in the "real world". He demanded that I tell him what schools I had obtained my degrees in, and sneered that I was not an expert in M-Brane Theory. I tried to ask him about renormalization and explain it, but he was not interested.

I started to try to tell him the difference between Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Zero Point energy, since he said he wanted to know, but every time I started he interrupted. I tried again, and he interrupted again, being clearly very sensitive about this. The host said he wanted to learn, but when I tried to tell them what my understanding was, he said I was being arrogant. I apologized and offered to be quiet, but this made him angry.

He claimed that all hydrogen atoms vibrate at 1.1 Gigahertz, and even if you slow a hydrogen atom down to 0.5 Gigahertz, it will automatically speed up to 1.1 Gigahertz, and the energy for this comes from dark energy, drawn in from a higher 4th spatial dimension. He felt that energy from quarks also can leak out to electrons, as another bond between them besides electromagnetic energy. He felt that water must grab energy from a higher dimension to maintain its natural form. The host believed that inflation is the correct version of astrophysics because of this sucking of energy from a higher dimension. He claimed that the electron spinning around the proton is thought to be a perpetual motion machine, but there is friction and it needs to get its energy from a higher dimension. He equated this higher dimension with heaven. He said there was insufficient energy in the vaccuum energy between an electron and a proton to power the spinning of the electron, since it would run out of gas in a few days. Therefore, it has to get its energy from another dimension. The zero point energy is inside the quarks, he said. He said there will be a coming Big Rip where the universe will tear apart, associated with the electrons and protons tearing apart from each other. He said the red shift shows that the universe is going away from itself. Newtonian physics would say that the universe would keep expanding at the same rate. He said that if one included gravity the universe would have to collapse in on itself, but the universe is expanding at an exponential rate, proving his theory. He said that this extra energy is coming from God. He said that neutrinos were Dark Matter. He felt that the universe was like a balloon with water in it, and the water was the Dark Energy, and the balloon was the matter that we can see. He stated that he believed in the Holy Trinity and that his theories prove it. It was an incredible stream of consciousness spew of nonsense.

Eventually I became irritated and I left. I have better things to do with my time.