Lots of people have been sending me their personal theories of the universe lately! Those messages all go immediately into the Unsolicited Theories folder. I do not read the Unsolicited Theories folder. #theory">http://www.astrokatie.com/faq #theory ">https://www.astrokatie.com/faq...

I mean look I barely manage to read the EXTREMELY URGENT VITAL INFORMATION e-mail folder; that cool idea you had about black holes at 3am that one time is never gonna make it to the top of the list

Here’s a thoughtful essay by @JamesGleick on this phenomenon, from 30 years ago. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/04/books/uh-oh-here-comes-the-mailman.html

“Why?">https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/0... Maybe because real science is hard. It is imperfect. People find it easier to absorb weird ideas from science than to understand the process that leads to the ideas.”