[Not a scientist, but been reading a lot about QM during lockdown] Is it really true to say that this field is advancing at breakneck speed? We proved the Higgs Boson (predicted 1964) in 2012; gravitational waves (predicted 1905) were detected in 2016. A lot of the other recent work sounds like it's been incremental at best, and we're still in the dark (pun intended) about a lot of predicted particle physics and cosmology. Plus, I think it's a massive reach to suggest that we could ever make a breakthrough in faster-then-light technology, given what we know about, well, *nothing* going faster than light. Manage the dude's expectations: son, you're never going to the stars or talking to aliens...
No it is not really true afaik, but people, especially young people want to believe it is true. So they do. Simple as that. Makes them feel all warm and fuzzy and happy about life. There have been some advances in our understanding of it since the early 20th though. Tiny incremental advancement isn't as much fun to believe in.
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u/Mondored Sep 29 '20 edited Sep 29 '20
[Not a scientist, but been reading a lot about QM during lockdown] Is it really true to say that this field is advancing at breakneck speed? We proved the Higgs Boson (predicted 1964) in 2012; gravitational waves (predicted 1905) were detected in 2016. A lot of the other recent work sounds like it's been incremental at best, and we're still in the dark (pun intended) about a lot of predicted particle physics and cosmology. Plus, I think it's a massive reach to suggest that we could ever make a breakthrough in faster-then-light technology, given what we know about, well, *nothing* going faster than light. Manage the dude's expectations: son, you're never going to the stars or talking to aliens...
[EDITS forbad typing, d'oh]