This hardcore physics dude has amazing content, notably in particle physics, and he seems to know the history of physics insanely well, notably emphasizing that there is value in tutorials written by early pioneers of the field, see also Section "How to teach and learn physics".
He does subscribe to some theories which Ciro Santilli considers conspiracy theories, e.g. his ideas about the Boston Marathon bombing that got him banned from Quora (a ban which Ciro strongly opposes due to freedom of speech concerns!), but the physics might be sound, Ciro Santilli does not know enough physics to judge, but it often feels that what he says makes sense.
Ron seems to share a few philosophies which Ciro greatly agrees with as part of Cirism, which together with his knowledge of physics, make Ciro greatly respect Ron. Such philosophies include:
- education views, notably emphasising autodidacticism
- https://www.quora.com/Why-should-high-school-students-learn-physics/answer/Ron-Maimon, highlighted at https://gmachine1729.livejournal.com/161418.html: "Why should high school students learn physics?" Answer:
But they should learn it, preferably on their own, because the school doesn't know how to teach physics. Physics is extremely interesting, even the elementary kind. It takes the mathematics you learn in high school and uses it to describe certain natural phenomenon completely, beyond what was imagined possible in the wildest dreams of people like Pythagoras or Archimedes. If you have a computer, Newton's laws plus a tiny code can produce the motion of the planets around the sun, the motion of a free-twirling baton, the motion of colliding billiards, it's very simple.
Yes, please, give it to me baby:
- https://www.quora.com/Why-should-high-school-students-learn-physics/answer/Ron-Maimon, highlighted at https://gmachine1729.livejournal.com/161418.html: "Why should high school students learn physics?" Answer:
- enthusiasm for molecular biology technologies, seen e.g. at: https://www.quora.com/Why-are-an-abundance-of-physicists-moving-to-theoretical-biology/answer/Ron-Maimon on Quora:
[biology] is also clearly going to be the major technology of the 21st century, you should have a sugar outlet next to the electrical outlet, and plug in artificial biological technology made out of artificial cells. To plan these requires a complete method of describing biological cells, a precise model of all the processes, so that you can make artificial ones, and it produces a type of precise control on single-molecule chemistry that makes chemists drool.
Ciro is actually specifically curious about whole cell simulation which he makes reference to. - effortless effort and the to explain everything he knows online. These can be seen at https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-control-your-urge-to-access-the-internet-so-you-can-complete-your-assignments "How do you control your urge to access the Internet so you can complete your assignments?":
I don't. I consider the internet the first priority, as it will be viewed by thousands of people, and will have a real impact, while other assignments are lower priority, as they will only have an impact locally.
- his cheapness as in Ciro Santilli's cheapness as mentioned at https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2454 from Video 234. "Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)":
Interviewer: there's a question on Quora where you say thta you took a vow of poverty when you were very young.Ron: I was ten, I mean, most people would give it up, but I mean I figured I didn't have any need to give it up, so I just kept with it, I mean, I was never was really offered that much more. When we started the startup, I think I was offered 50k, but I said "no, I'll keep it 40k, I took a vow", and then they gave me 40k. And that of sort of set an example, the CEO also took 40k. It was a very good thing because we had very little money, we were a startup, and we were going by seed money.
He has either been blocked from or quit every single website he participates in due to his highly combative nature:Ron explicitly defends this combative approach at https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=944 from Video 234. "Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)":
- https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/4864/ron-maimon from Physics Stack Exchange:
The thing about Ron Maimon is he definitely comes here to talk about physics. I personally can't get into discussions with him for two reasons: first, he's so single-minded in his own point of view that you can't really communicate with him back and forth; secondly, the structure of this forum is simply not conducive to extended discussions. But he sometimes posts things that are so coherently argued and with such intricate detail that even if I can't understand them myself, I just can't believe he's simply pulling this stuff out of his ass.
The thing that makes me pretty angry about Ron's behaviour is that he does not distinguish between common consensus belief and his own private research - this makes evaluating his claims hard for a third party not familiar with physics.
- https://www.quora.com/profile/Ron-Maimon, he was very active on Quora, until he was blocked for his views on the Boston Marathon bombing as mentioned at Video 234. "Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)"
In order to have this process work [finding of truth] it is extremely important that the tone is hostile, that it is like a court of law, where you have an adversarial relationship with your opponent. Because if you have a friendly relationship with your opponent, then political consensus is preserved.And notably, relevant to https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/stack-overflow-mods-refuse-to-clarify-if-anti-ccp-imagery-is-allowed-or-not-2021
Unfortunately, when you're in a minority, the only way to correct the consensus view is to just shout it, and repeat it, until people go and look and check for themselves. The reason is that it creates an adversarial atmosphere where the people have to pick sides, and they don't like to pick sides, they would rather have everyone be happy. So when you have to pick sides, what do you do? You either butt out, you just leave it alone, you run away. Or you sit and review the evidence until you know which side to pick.and he than also mentions that Wolfgang Pauli was a major proponent of this in physics, and so was Galileo.
https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/7104585#7104585 mentions that he was at Cornell University and did all but dissertation, but he mentions that he was still self-taught:
This is corroborated e.g. at: http://pages.physics.cornell.edu/~gtoombes/Student_Index.htmlEugene Seidel: On your personal info page you write that you are not a physics Ph.D. but does that mean you were a physics undergrad in college then went to grad school and finished ABD... or are you entirely self taught?Ron Maimon: ABD. I am self- taught though, I only went to school for accreditation. I had a thesis worth of work at the time I left grad-school,Eugene Seidel: ok thanksRon Maimon: I was just kind of sickened by academic stuff that was going on--- large extra dimensions were popular then.Eric Walker: Anyway, thanks Ron -- I'll get back to you with more questions soon, I'm sure.Ron Maimon: Also I was at Cornell, my advisor left for Cincinnatti, and I was not in very good standing there (I was kind of a jerk, as I still am). Some friends wanted to start a biotech company called "Gene Network Sciences", and I joined them.
This is the company he talks about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_Healthcare.
At https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2454 from Video 234. "Ron Maimon interview with Jeff Meverson (2014)" he mentions his brother is a professor. At https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/32382/could-we-build-a-supercomputer-out-of-wires-and-switches-instead-of-a-microchip confirms that his brother's name is "Gaby Maimon", so this https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/985-gaby-maimon/ neuroscience professor at the Rockerfeller University. Looks, age, location and research interest match.
Ron disappeared from the Internet at around 2014. Ciro figures he's hanging out with Ettore Majorana somewhere.
Some notable technical posts:
- https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/535/why-does-kinetic-energy-increase-quadratically-not-linearly-with-speed/14752#14752 answer to "Why does kinetic energy increase quadratically, not linearly, with speed?" on Physics Stack Exchange
Some notable history posts:
Bibliography:
- https://gmachine1729.livejournal.com/161418.html Ron Maimon answers about physics and math on Quora (part 1) by Sheng Li (2020)
- https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2247 mentions that there is a question on Quora where Ron said he took a vow of poverty when he was 10. This reminded Ciro of Ciro Santilli's cheapness.
- https://youtu.be/ObXbKbpkSjQ?t=2532 mentions his admiration for Leonard Susskind, in particular him starting out as a plumber
- List of Stack Overflow users | 0, 2k, 2
- Stack Overflow user | 0, 2k, 5
- Stack Overflow | 169, 4k, 19
- Q&A software | 0, 4k, 21
- Internet forum | 0, 4k, 30
- Website | 0, 7k, 94
- Art | 97, 22k, 372
- Ciro Santilli's Homepage | 262, 238k, 4k
- How to teach and learn physics | 420, 502, 1
- Kinetic energy | 95
- Ron Maimon | 2k
- Selected Papers on Quantum Electrodynamics by Julian Schwinger (1958) | 35
- There is value in tutorials written by early pioneers of the field | 123
- University | 419, 5k, 86
- Wolfgang Pauli | 27