December 2, 2025
Schrödinger’s hot takes
Wacky Fun Physics Ideas
Bold ideas or unhinged rants? Comment wars erupt over “weird physics”
TLDR: A physics blogger slammed the status quo and pitched wild notions like electrons not causing gravity, igniting a frenzy. Commenters split between giddy curiosity (quantum-computer gravity! test the electron-as-photon idea!) and pushback over his inflammatory tone—proof there’s hunger for bold ideas, minus the edge-lord baggage.
Physicist-blogger Scott Locklin tossed a grenade into the lab, calling mainstream physics boring and hyping wild takes like “maybe electrons don’t make gravity” and “gravity is just a heat-bath illusion.” The crowd did not whisper. It roared. Fans cheered the chaos: one reader swooned over a paper claiming Einstein’s gravity (general relativity) could pop out of quantum computing, calling these left-field ideas “seeds” that might bloom. Others sprinted straight to backyard-experiment energy, asking if the “electron is a photon bent into a donut” idea could enable testable hacks, while another chimed in with receipts, linking older work saying the photon-trap theory isn’t new at all.
Then the tone war exploded. Locklin’s habit of drive-by insults and a nasty mask-related jab surfaced, and the vibe split. Some shrugged, calling him “unhinged-seeming but fresh,” like a shock jock for science takes. Others invoked the sacred internet rule—never read the comments—suggesting the style drowns the substance. Meanwhile, spaghetti jokes flew over his swipe at string theory (“noodle theory”), and the thread ping-ponged between “let’s test crazy stuff” and “can we not with the edgelord vibes?” Verdict: the ideas are wacky-fun; the comments are nuclear-fun. Choose your fighter: curiosity or cringe.
Key Points
- •The post presents two unconventional physics proposals: leptons’ potential non-generation of gravity and gravity as an entropic effect in matrix mechanics.
- •It notes electrons have inertial mass and experience gravity, but precise measurement of their gravitational generation remains unresolved at the required accuracy.
- •The Kreuzer experiment is cited as unable to distinguish scenarios where leptons or binding energy do not contribute to gravitational mass as General Relativity requires.
- •A second paper outlines gravity emerging for slow timescale matrix elements via entanglement with fast elements acting as a heat bath.
- •The author suggests renewed experimental tests with torsion balances to probe these hypotheses.