Ten years later: what about Erik Verlinde and his theory?
Ten years after its introduction, the controversial idea of Erik Verlinde on gravity is still a hotly debated topic, and is still surrounded by a cloud of scepticism. Scepticism in which the media have played a major role, theoretical physicst Koenraad Schalm says in an article by NWO. ‘The media simply do not understand that nuance, all they want is the next Einstein or Eddington on the front page.’
Media hype
Schalm says he thinks the media hype surrounding Verlinde’s ideas wasn’t helping. ‘That media hype sometimes gives rise to irritation among scientists’, he says in the NWO article. ‘The headlines were about a new theory of gravity that had been discovered, whereas Verlinde had a hypothesis that still had to be elaborated and tested. The media simply do not understand that nuance, all they want is the next Einstein or Eddington on the front page.’ For Verlinde, this attention was indeed a bit awkard, it says in the article.
Respect
For Schalm, the scepticism is justified. ‘But don’t misunderstand me, it is incredibly difficult to have a really good idea in this discipline. So I have a lot of respect for Verlinde, because he has definitely given the field a new direction.’ Meanwhile, Verlinde keeps having faith. ‘I am seriously considering rewriting my story from 2009, but now formulated much more precisely. I think that could remove some of the scepticism that still exists.’
Read the article on the website of NWO: