How To Spot a Crackpot Theory (in Physics)

Dr. Angela Collier, a theoretical physicist, has been posting videos to her YouTube channel for the last couple of years, covering Astronomy, Physics, Science Communication, and some Skepticism. About a year ago she posted a video called “Harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb”. And while she does a great takedown, or um, critique, of Avi Loeb, she gives a really nice summary of how to spot a crackpot in physics, and I just wanted to share that here and point some of you to her great YouTube channel.

Her four points for spotting a crackpot aren’t simple, surefire gotchas. They’re more like possible red flags, and the more boxes you check off, the larger the red flag. Here’s the list:

1. Addresses the biggest problems in physics
   I guess this should be called “addresses ONLY the biggest problems in physics” as that’s the point. When someone only researches (or claims to be researching) only the biggest problems in their field, they might have other motivations (eg. attention seeking), or simply really don’t know the field enough to know more than the famous topics (eg. amateur armchair physicists).
2. Lacking mathematical evidence, experimental rigor, etc…
   When someone promotes a physics theory without the math or evidence to back it up, well, how seriously should they be taken? Not very.
3. Responds with anger, complains that the physics community has blacklisted them, cite Galileo/Einstein/etc.
   This one is pretty common, not just amongst physics crackpots. When someone gets angry and starts yelling because they feel they aren’t taken seriously (her video shows Avi Loeb doing this on several occasions), its probably because they really don’t have a lot to back up their claims, and deep down they know it. No one believed Galileo, is often heard. Well, yeah, …. at first. But he did the research, he had the evidence, and it was church persecution. No, you’re probably not like Galileo.
4. They are not physics theories
   This one might sometimes be difficult to spot if you’re not a physicist. But crackpots will often purpose a theory, not know how physics actually works, can’t do or understand the math, etc. And therefore, their claim isn’t really based in physics. She gives examples of two physicists, Francis GJ Perry and Luis Alvarez, and rates how each fares on this point. (Spoiler: Luis Alvarez isn’t a crackpot).

The video is definitely worth a watch.