Freedom of Science

How hard can it be to question Newton’s authority? For me it is easy. Not only it is easy it is a scientific necessity. For others it must be real hard. For some others it is impossible.

Why is questioning Newton’s authority impossible to some?

Below are two answers we received from two human beings from two different sections of society:

1. I don’t care. Why would I question Newton’s authority? This is a waste of my time. Questioning authority does not add to my wealth. Questioning authority is not entertainment. I work hard to purchase entertainment The Big Org sells to me for me to get high. Mind you, I am not talking about hard drugs, I am a family man, no, just the movies, vacations, drinks, partying, and the necessary consumer items. I need to work harder and harder in order to buy more potent entertainment to stimulate my senses which have become dull from so many years of hard entertainment. The higher quality entertainment costs more. If I work too hard there is no time left for entertainment. So I have to strike the right balance in order to maximize the high I get from legal entertainment by earning the most while working the least. You cannot beat the house. All this is already set up so that everybody barely stays where they are while they are given just enough education to allow them to earn just enough to buy intoxication to go through this life. There is no room for questioning of authority of Newton in this cycle.

2. I studied hard and wasted 25 best years of my life to memorize the Newtonian doctrine and I will not start questioning Newton now. I am an academic physicist. Physics is based on Newton’s immutable authority. Questioning Newton’s authority in physics means career suicide. Even if I am only perceived as questioning the sacred authority of Newton, even if I am merely showing scientific skepticism, my hard core colleagues will dub me a crank and they will excommunicate me by putting my email in their spam list. It is better to pretend that the world is Newtonian and go ahead with your business. How can this be possible? Physics is full of Newtonian this and Newtonian that. In reality physics is Newtonian in name only. In practice physics is a motley crew collection of philosophical principles, conjectures, rules, algorithms, laws, ad hoc patches to algorithms, pidgin mathematics mixed with pidgin English all classified under millions of labels which are defined N times each. That’s why any civilian who attempts to debate physics with physicists immediately is pulled down into this scholastic quicksand and drown. Physicists do not use Newtonian anything in their calculations. All Newtonian decorative symbols are eliminated when it comes to making calculations. Nature does not recognize authority symbols. But by the rules of the profession we must protect Newtonian rituals. This is silly. But this is how things work in academic physics. You cannot change this. You learn it first thing as a student. If you start to question physics you fall back. If you fall back you are doomed. In physics only grades matter. So no, it is counterproductive for me to question Newton’s authority. Basically I agree with the previous answer: I don’t care. I repeat the party line, I do my necessary teaching and administrative chores and if any time is left I try to spend it with research. I never have any time left to enjoy high quality entertainment the previous person mentions. I can achieve some kind of wealth only if I write a bestseller popularizing the latest physics fad. But bestselling contracts are doled out by the Big Media. Big Media favors the incumbent and at this point Brian Greene and alternatively Lisa Randall are the official stars. There is no room on top for a third one. This is academic life. Only idealist amateurs like you truly believe that by questioning Newton’s authority Newton could be removed from human psyche. Einstein tried and failed.

Grim. Gloomy. Newtonism looks most immutable. Every doctrine looks maximum immutable when their demise is imminent. Check out communism. Newton may have planned his marketing calculus ingeniously and deified himself so well. But Newton did not factor in blogging. Newton’s way of doing business is doomed. We know how it works: Display authority symbols with great authority, call your book by its first name like the most famous entertainers, hide information and sell what you hid as absolute truth through your disciples. Does not cut it anymore.

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