Good news! I was wrong and now we’ll eat cake and make a show!
Posted Mar 17, 2014 by bn
Heh.
So on a recent show with Taylor Mali, he asked us… essentially, why scientists thought they knew everything? I suppose from an outsider perspective we act like we do. And indeed, we understand SO MUCH. But we were quick to correct him: we make no claims for universal understanding, nor is the joy of science the smugness of knowing a ton. No, the joy of science is in exploring that which is NOT known. the frontier of our understanding is vast, and being wrong (and occasionally right) about our guesses are the reason we get out of bed.
anyway. I’m super happy, because today I WAS WRONG. and wrong in a big way.
I am sure that you’ve read the headlines.
the deal is that I would put (a small amount of) money on two things, up until last week:
1. Inflation is a cosmological solution to an aesthetic/philosophical problem, and that it probably didn’t happen. and EITHER WAY, we would never know because there aren’t any detectable signals which would be distinguishable.
2. Primordial gravitational waves will never be detected, directly or indirectly.
Indeed, part of my PhD thesis involved some simulations which spat out spectra for primordial gravitational waves. So part 2. was RATHER PESSIMISTIC on my part. nevertheless…
I WAS WRONG on both points!
AND ITS AMAZING! I’m LITERALLY BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT!
now listen, nothing is certain, and everything should be taken carefully and conservatively…
but it’s amazing. I’m amazed.
Also, up until now, many of my experts had suggested a show on Inflation, and I’d always said no… because there were no observational verifications.
so. I’m happy to say that the next episode of the titanium physicists podcast, we’ll be talking about inflation, and the exciting news.
but tonight? CAkE!
