“Holographic Cosmology” wins PSI Award for Pseudoscience

PSI Blog 20170208 “Holographic Cosmology” wins PSI Award for Pseudoscience

Thanks to Rick for this heads-up on the latest outrage in cosmogony:

Even Doyle Rice, the reporter for USA Today, sounds incredulous:

Talk about a reality check: The entire universe could be a "vast and complex hologram," scientists reported Monday. Also, even more unsettling, what we think of as reality may be just an illusion.

Rice, Doyle, 2017, Mind blown: The entire universe could be a hologram: USA Today [http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/01/30/universe-hologram-illusion/97249856/].

For the Oh So Serious article that got past the reviewers at Physical Review Letters, check this out:

Afshordi, Niayesh, Corianò, Claudio, Delle Rose, Luigi, Gould, Elizabeth, and Skenderis, Kostas, 2017, From Planck Data to Planck Era: Observational Tests of Holographic Cosmology: Physical Review Letters, v. 118, no. 4, p. 041301 [http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.041301].

This type of nonsense is typical of regressive physicists and cosmogonists who are especially fond of the indeterministic assumption of immaterialism. The solipsism is in tune with Deepak Chopra, who seems to think that the existence of the universe depends on his own consciousness. The universe is an illusion alright—until you bang into something hard that wakes you up and brings you to your senses.

I find it hard to get the motivation here. I suppose they believe they are advancing the BBT along the path to eternal righteousness. It all goes to show that the mathematization of garbage is still garbage. Let’s hope that “holographic cosmology” doesn’t get recycled. But don’t hold your breath.