Letter to New York Review of Books

10 Responses to Letter to New York Review of Books

1. Alejandro Rivero says:

   July 20, 2005 at 9:15 am

   Assuming it is him and not someone with the exact same name.

   … and living in the same maximum security prison at Florence, Colorado.
2. Anonymous says:

   July 20, 2005 at 2:24 am

   I was thinking Pauly Shore for the role of Lubos.

   And Michael Douglas as Michael Douglas, of course.
3. Anonymous says:

   July 18, 2005 at 1:43 pm

   I am sure the editor was very nervous opening a letter from this infamous mathematician. Assuming it is him and not someone with the exact same name. As for the string movie mentioned below, Antonio Banderas could play the part of J. Maldacena and Leonardo diCaprio that of L. Motl…maybe :).
4. Torbjorn Larsson says:

   July 18, 2005 at 1:16 pm

   No no! _Dead_ people got no reason to live; _short_ people got less reason to live; long people take up unnecessary space. Long live mediocracy!
5. String, Strang, Strung says:

   July 17, 2005 at 3:28 pm

   From: http://physicsmathforums.com/showthread.php?t=56

   All Tied Up & Strung Along: Hollywood String Theory Movie!!! Looking For Extras!!!
   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

   ALL TIED UP & STRUNG ALONG, a movie about String Theorists and their expansive theories which extend human ignorance, pomposity, and frailty into higher dimensions, is set to start filming this fall. Jessica Alba, John Cleese, Eugene Levie, Jackie Chan, and David Duchovney of X-files fame have all signed on to the $700 million project, which is still cheaper than String Theory itself, and will likely displace less physicists from the academy.

   “As contemporary physics is about money, hype, mythology, and chicks,” Ed Witten explained from his offices at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, “The next logical step was Hollywood, although I thought Burt Reynolds should play me instead of Eugene Levy.”

   Brian Greene, the famous String Theorist who will be played by David “the truth is out there” Duchovney, explained the plot: “String theory’s muddled, contorted theories that lack postulates, laws, and experimentally-verified equations have Einstein spinning so fast in his grave that it creates a black hole. In order to save the world, we String Theorists have to stop reformulating String Thoery faster than the speed of light, and violating the conservation of energy by mining higher dimensions for matter to publish more BS than the big bang itself could account for.”

   “At first I am reluctant to stop, but when my love interest Jessica Alba is sucked into the black hole, I search my soul and find Paul Davies there, played by John Cleese. I ask him what he’s doing in my soul, and he explains that the answer to that is containined in the mind of God, which only he is privy too, but for a small fee, some tax and tuition dollars, a couple grants here and there, and an all-expense-paid book tour, he can let me in on it. But as soon as he points out that we can make more money in Hollywood than printing more coffee-table books that recycle Einstein, Bohr, Dirac, Feynman, and Wheeler, adding little else, I am converted. I agree to turn my back on String Theory’s hoax and save Jessica Alba.”

   But it’s not that easy, as standing in his way is Michio “king of pop-theory” Kaku, played by Jackie Chan. Kaku beats the crap out of Greene for alomst blowing the “ironic” pretense his salary, benefits, and all-expense paid trips depend on. “I have better hair,” Kaku argues as he delivers a flying back-kick, ” I should be String Theory’s front man!!”

   How does it all end? Does physics go bankrupt funding theories that have expanded our ignorance from four dimensions into ten, or twenty, and thirty dimensions? Do tax payers revolt? Do young physicists overthrow the hand-waving, contortionist bullies and revive physics with a classical renaissance favoring logic, reason, and Truth over meaningless mathematical abstractions? Does Moving Dimensions Theory (MDT) prevail? We’ll all just have to wait!

   From: http://physicsmathforums.com/showthread.php?t=56
6. fooltomery says:

   July 15, 2005 at 5:14 pm

   From the Michael Mann version of the movie Manhunter, a memorable (and not inapposite) exchange:

   Will Graham: “I know that I’m not smarter than you.”
   
   Hannibal Lecter:  “Then how did you catch me?”
   
   Will Graham: “You had disadvantages.”
   
   Hannibal Lecter:  “What disadvantages?”
   
   Will Graham: “You’re insane.”
7. Randy Newman says:

   July 15, 2005 at 4:05 pm

   Short people got no reason to live.
8. Dick Thompson says:

   July 15, 2005 at 1:00 pm

   One notes that Kascynski himelf, while in high school, was small enough to be shut in a school locker by bullies. Perhaps his interest in the history of short people is personal
9. Anonymous says:

   July 15, 2005 at 2:27 am

   At least he doensn’t post comments on your blog.

   Or does he? Any IP addresses out of Florence, Colorado?
10. Joe Bolte says:

    July 15, 2005 at 12:44 am

    The Unabomber! What do I win?

Comments are closed.