Not Even Wrong
The physicist Wolfgang Pauli reportedly dismissed a colleague’s paper with the cutting remark: “It’s not even wrong.” The idea was so vague, so detached from anything testable, that it couldn’t even rise to the level of being incorrect.
The Spectrum of Ideas
There’s a hierarchy here worth thinking about:
- Right — your idea matches reality and you can demonstrate it.
- Wrong — your idea doesn’t match reality, but at least it was specific enough to be tested.
- Not even wrong — your idea is too vague to test. It sounds like it means something, but it doesn’t actually commit to any falsifiable claim.
Being wrong is underrated. Wrong ideas are load-bearing — they tell you something about the shape of the problem. “Not even wrong” ideas just take up space.
Why This Site
This site is an attempt to write ideas that are at least wrong. To think specifically enough that someone could push back, point out a flaw, or run the experiment.
Vague ideas feel safe. Specific ideas feel risky. But only specific ideas can actually be useful.