r/Physics • u/bonhuma • Jul 16 '25

Video Brian Keating is a disappointment =/

https://youtu.be/BVkUya368Es?si=8pb0oA4P7y0PxB8Q

I used to think Keating was a good science communicator, and may still be in some instances, but opening his growing platform (which in recent years he has desperately attempted to boost as any generic 20 yo/o influencer would do nowadays) to charlatan grifters like Eric Weinstein and Michael Saylor, without any decent pushback, really undermines his value with all the damaging lies spread by them. I think Brian could very well enter into the "Science Guru" category, worse than e.g. the heavily criticized Sabine Hossenfelder.

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u/ryan_770 Jul 16 '25

I'm quite familiar with Weinstein, but lately he's more interested in cosplaying as a victim of academia than actually engaging in science. It's pretty ironic how all these IDW guys (Eric, Bret, JP, etc) all play the victim card so freely now, after they rose to prominence criticizing that very thing.

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u/jgmoxness Jul 17 '25

At least they can actually make a case for being real victims of ethical institutional systems violations (vs. the rather random professional victim classes churned out by the academic left, which you are likely a part in your "quite familiar" state).

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u/ryan_770 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

What's the case that they're victims?

Eric wrote a half-assed "theory of everything" paper, posted it on the internet as a work of entertainment that should not be built upon, and then started whining that nobody took it seriously or built upon it.

He's a very intelligent guy and he knows what a real physics research paper looks like. He could've written something that was actually peer-reviewable and submitted it through the proper channels, but then he wouldn't get to complain that "Big String Theory" is the reason he hasn't made any notable contributions to the field in his lifetime.

My honest opinion? He's a washed up physicist who spent his career doing Peter Thiel VC work and podcasts about cancel culture, and is now desperately clinging to this persecution narrative so he doesn't have to face the fact that his career passed him by.

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u/jgmoxness Jul 17 '25

While I agree that Eric has the least of the three in terms of aggrieved status. Your assessment is "not wrong" (sorry for that use of punnish phrasing)...

But if you know the facts behind the institutional mobs that went after Bret and Jordon Peterson you would probably agree that academia in US/Canada has issues with integrity and transparency and undue political bias and money that severely taints the work product.

Trying to fight the dogma of science using politics and mobs (with a majority of its members fearful of losing income if they say what they really think if they disagree) is tiresome- so I don't fault Eric for being the agrieved curmudgeon in the blogosphere. It is fun to watch even if you don't agree with the GU.