frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Wacky Fun Physics Ideas

https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2025/11/22/wacky-fun-physics-ideas/
39•surprisetalk•2mo ago

Comments

stared•2mo ago
My favourite "wacky theory" is that Einstein general relativity can be derived from quantum computing, https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0501135.

In general, I love such novel concepts (rather than slight refinements of existing). They are like seeds - the vast majority of them won't sprout, but one in a thousand (or million) will change a field.

The same way as one erroneous paper on superluminal communication got refuted by the non-cloning theorem - which gave raise to quantum cryptography and quantum information in general. I recommend reading the backstory in "How the Hippies Saved Physics" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Hippies_Saved_Physics).

RangerScience•2mo ago
I don’t know how much of this paper I can understand but

I find it pretty interesting that, AFAICT, the dominant engineering paradigm of an era is also the dominant “this is what reality is” metaphor: cathedrals and architecture and the spheres; steam and clockwork and mechanical; now - computation and information!

stared•2mo ago
Yes, we seek for analogies we can make.

Einstein was focused on synchronising clocks - as it was a thing in Switzerland at time. Vide https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160901-the-clock-that-c....

IAmBroom•2mo ago
Um, that's an overstatement. He was also "focused" on making refrigerators - he owned a patent on a novel system, but was foiled by the near-simultaneous discovery of better non-toxic refrigerant liquids.
jnurmine•2mo ago
If one were to simply assume that yes, electrons are in fact photons in a toroidal configuration... are there special "hacks" enabled by this configuration which could be tested?
aaronax•2mo ago
Scott Locklin is one of my favorite reads, in occasional doses though. Kind of unhinged-seeming but always some perspective that seems fresh.

He's like Casey Handmer turned up to 11, and throw in a use of the word "retarded" in pretty much every post which surely is some repellent just to make certain types of people go away.

Actually I'm not sure I really get anything out of reading either of them but they provide some enjoyment and glimpse of a possible future.

cpp_frog•2mo ago
One of the most fascinating characters out there for sure, without fail his posts make me consider a new perspective.

He left HN unfortunately, he might be too brash for this site (or this place is too wimpy for him).

IAmBroom•2mo ago
Or, you know, the community might just not like people who are deliberately a-holes to others.
IAmBroom•2mo ago
Hit this quote from the author in the Comments section:

> This is the same psychology that causes experimental physicists to wear paper covid-cuck masks[...]

The Never Read The Comments Rule still applies. "Wacky" is one word for his ideas...

rickyhatespeas•2mo ago
The base tone of the post is written for chronically online right-wingers, the dog whistles are really obvious.

"Purple hair", "retarded", "media bad", "post 1945 order".

UncleSlacky•2mo ago
The electron-as-trapped photon model goes back a ways, to at least Roger Jennison (one of my old profs):

"What is an electron?": http://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Qua...

More recently, Larry Reed has developed a theory very similar to that mentioned in the article:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364333320_Quantum_W...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390318893_Origin_of...

Al Lowe on model trains, funny deaths and working with Disney

https://spillhistorie.no/2026/02/06/interview-with-sierra-veteran-al-lowe/
39•thelok•2h ago•3 comments

Hoot: Scheme on WebAssembly

https://www.spritely.institute/hoot/
101•AlexeyBrin•6h ago•18 comments

First Proof

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05192
52•samasblack•3h ago•39 comments

OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III

https://openciv3.org/
789•klaussilveira•20h ago•243 comments

Stories from 25 Years of Software Development

https://susam.net/twenty-five-years-of-computing.html
39•vinhnx•3h ago•5 comments

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

https://rlhfbook.com/
63•onurkanbkrc•5h ago•5 comments

The Waymo World Model

https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/the-waymo-world-model-a-new-frontier-for-autonomous-driving-simula...
1041•xnx•1d ago•588 comments

Start all of your commands with a comma (2009)

https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2009/commands-with-comma/
464•theblazehen•2d ago•165 comments

France's homegrown open source online office suite

https://github.com/suitenumerique
511•nar001•5h ago•235 comments

The AI boom is causing shortages everywhere else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/07/ai-spending-economy-shortages/
64•1vuio0pswjnm7•7h ago•61 comments

Vocal Guide – belt sing without killing yourself

https://jesperordrup.github.io/vocal-guide/
184•jesperordrup•10h ago•65 comments

Selection Rather Than Prediction

https://voratiq.com/blog/selection-rather-than-prediction/
3•languid-photic•3d ago•0 comments

Coding agents have replaced every framework I used

https://blog.alaindichiappari.dev/p/software-engineering-is-back
190•alainrk•5h ago•282 comments

Software factories and the agentic moment

https://factory.strongdm.ai/
51•mellosouls•3h ago•53 comments

A Fresh Look at IBM 3270 Information Display System

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/a-fresh-look-at-ibm-3270-information-display-system
27•rbanffy•4d ago•5 comments

72M Points of Interest

https://tech.marksblogg.com/overture-places-pois.html
20•marklit•5d ago•0 comments

Unseen Footage of Atari Battlezone Arcade Cabinet Production

https://arcadeblogger.com/2026/02/02/unseen-footage-of-atari-battlezone-cabinet-production/
108•videotopia•4d ago•27 comments

Where did all the starships go?

https://www.datawrapper.de/blog/science-fiction-decline
59•speckx•4d ago•62 comments

Show HN: Look Ma, No Linux: Shell, App Installer, Vi, Cc on ESP32-S3 / BreezyBox

https://github.com/valdanylchuk/breezydemo
268•isitcontent•21h ago•34 comments

Learning from context is harder than we thought

https://hy.tencent.com/research/100025?langVersion=en
198•limoce•4d ago•107 comments

Monty: A minimal, secure Python interpreter written in Rust for use by AI

https://github.com/pydantic/monty
281•dmpetrov•21h ago•150 comments

Making geo joins faster with H3 indexes

https://floedb.ai/blog/how-we-made-geo-joins-400-faster-with-h3-indexes
152•matheusalmeida•2d ago•47 comments

British drivers over 70 to face eye tests every three years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205nxy0p31o
169•bookofjoe•2h ago•153 comments

Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

https://hackers-1995.vercel.app/
549•todsacerdoti•1d ago•266 comments

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
422•ostacke•1d ago•110 comments

Ga68, a GNU Algol 68 Compiler

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PEXRTN-ga68-intro/
39•matt_d•4d ago•14 comments

Show HN: I spent 4 years building a UI design tool with only the features I use

https://vecti.com
365•vecti•23h ago•167 comments

An Update on Heroku

https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/
465•lstoll•1d ago•305 comments

U.S. Jobs Disappear at Fastest January Pace Since Great Recession

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/05/us-jobs-disappear-at-fastest-january-pace-sin...
12•alephnerd•1h ago•7 comments

Show HN: If you lose your memory, how to regain access to your computer?

https://eljojo.github.io/rememory/
342•eljojo•23h ago•210 comments