HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!! Condensed Matter Physics to test String Theory in 2008!!

Well, looks like we have to extend some more bets here.

Here's the hyping press release:
http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/Info/lunews.nsf/I/1CF5A01D756992E3802573B60045CA77

We would like to bet Dr. Richard Haley and each member of the ULT Group each $137 that their experiments will make no testable predictions concerning String Theory. And we'd like to go double-or-nothing, betting Haley and his entire group again, that tehir experiment has nothing to do with branes nor strings that can be measured in any way whatsoever, and double-or-nothing again that in fact, their experiment has nothing to do with testing string theory nor brane theory nor M-theory.

This bet is worth a few thousand dollars, and as they seem optimistic about whatever it is they're doing, we expect them to bet.

Send an email to hedgefundphysics@gmail.com, and we can assess the total tally.

And we would like to go double-or-nothing again, betting that this statement is patently false: "Low-temperature physicists at Lancaster University may have found a laboratory test of the ‘untestable’ string theory.
The test – which uses two distinct phases of liquid helium - is reported online this week in Nature Physics (published 23 December). Their paper will also be published as the cover article in the paper edition of Nature Physics in January." --http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/Info/lunews.nsf/I/1CF5A01D756992E3802573B60045CA77 and that in no, way, shape or form does Dr Richard Hayley, nor his group, nor his university, nor the enitire British Empire have any mans of testing String Theory.

We look forward to Dr. Haley manning up and laying his bet on the table. And forwards even moreso to the day his cards are laid on the table, so that we can collect.

On Betting Against Physics Hype in 2008

We're expecting the LHC to find approximately nothing new, but it could be a lot of fun watching a lot of people claiming that they have the new TOE which the LHC will prove right or wrong.

And we're upping the ante, and hedging against postmodern groupthink and tenured hypesters by calling them out, and betting them $137 that their claims are false. That would be $137 per claim.

Let's start with claims made by the esteemed Dr. Kip Thorne who in a recent interview stated, http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/the-man-who-imagined-wormholes-and-schooled-hawking/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=,

Cosmic strings are an idea that comes from string theory, the most studied area of theoretical physics. This area is still a long way from being a coherent unification of quantum and classical physics. Do you think string theory is exciting enough to merit the amount of attention it’s gotten?Absolutely. I think there’s no question. It shows many signs of being on the right track toward a correct quantum theory of gravity. It has given rise to a number of very important ideas that have a good shot at being correct, such as higher dimensions, such as the possibility of forming mini-black holes at the LHC [Large Hadron Collider, a new particle accelerator that may be up and running next year], and thereby probing higher dimensions. String theory is now beginning to make concrete, observational predictions which will be tested. Claims that it is just theorists playing mental masturbation are, I think, nonsense. --http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/the-man-who-imagined-wormholes-and-schooled-hawking/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C

Well, we hereby bet Mr. Kip Thorne $137 that the LHC doesn't create any mini-blackholes. We hereby bet Mr. Kip Thorne $137 that the LHC doesn't find any higher diemensions. And we hereby bet Mr. Kip Thorne $137 that string theory makes absolutely zero predictions that will be tested by the LHC.

So far our total bet is $411.

We expect this will grow throughout the year.