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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6851647" data-attributes="member: 177">You know, Quantum Mechanics and the Standard Model have a number of problematic places that require renormalization techniques to help you deal with infinities.&nbsp; Those things *looked* mathematically and physically inconsistent until someone figured out to employ those techniques - meaning someone had to fiddle and play around with them and then go, &quot;Hey, I can do *this*, and it all works out!&quot;.&nbsp; It turns out that in this case, you can make it work out... at the cost of having nonsensical materials.&nbsp; Okay, it turned out not to be terribly useful - but they didn't *know* what the result would be when they started, and knowing one way or the other is kinda important, no?I, personally, figure that the realms of scientific inquiry ought to be pretty wide open.&nbsp; Do we really want to cast shade on some endeavors just because we don't expect they'll be fruitful?&nbsp; I mean, that's the same logic used by those who claim that &quot;pure research,&quot; without direct commercial relevance, should be curtailed.&nbsp; And that would produce a hefty chilling effect, if we listened to it.It is also important to remember that it isn't like this was some billion-dollar project to find out if a fringe-model is correct.&nbsp; It was like, Kip Thorne and a blackboard, paper, and pencils, right?&nbsp; Not a huge expenditure, or anything.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6851647, member: 177"] You know, Quantum Mechanics and the Standard Model have a number of problematic places that require renormalization techniques to help you deal with infinities. Those things *looked* mathematically and physically inconsistent until someone figured out to employ those techniques - meaning someone had to fiddle and play around with them and then go, "Hey, I can do *this*, and it all works out!". It turns out that in this case, you can make it work out... at the cost of having nonsensical materials. Okay, it turned out not to be terribly useful - but they didn't *know* what the result would be when they started, and knowing one way or the other is kinda important, no? I, personally, figure that the realms of scientific inquiry ought to be pretty wide open. Do we really want to cast shade on some endeavors just because we don't expect they'll be fruitful? I mean, that's the same logic used by those who claim that "pure research," without direct commercial relevance, should be curtailed. And that would produce a hefty chilling effect, if we listened to it. It is also important to remember that it isn't like this was some billion-dollar project to find out if a fringe-model is correct. It was like, Kip Thorne and a blackboard, paper, and pencils, right? Not a huge expenditure, or anything. [/QUOTE]

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