The Arxiv
This is an excellent question. Think of this as the âGood Will Hunting Problemâ.
I tried uploading to arxiv way back when. They told me that my email address wasnât a current university address and I could only upload with endorsement from a university or its representative.
On this point our detractors are more correct than our supporters: our ambitions at The Portal are nearly delusional.
The main goal of The Portal is to âSlip the DISCâ. Anywhere institutions (like Universities) set up an intellectual caste system via bottlenecking, weâll engage.
To your question: can that Bangladeshi Genius kid get on the Arxiv if she is from some Jute farm in the delta without an endorsement?
https://arxiv.org/help/endorseme
And why if the Arxiv is open does it discriminate against the blogs of string theory critics???
I grant freely that the arxiv is the absolute best part of the DISC. But it is still suppressing ideas & enforcing a caste system. It is the most progressive part of our regressive system (I was offered a full endorsement exemption from its founder Paul Ginsparg). But DISC it is.
Iâm enough of a hypocrite that I reserve rights to use it. But Iâll be making demands of it too. Peter Woit is a physicist who is treated by the arxiv as an âinternet personalityâ yet runs the most read physics blog. I demand that they fully explain their history suppressing him.
Thanks for asking that question. Our goal is to save the Arxiv from being part of the DISC. Its soul is with the rebels. And Paul Ginsparg is oddly an early hero of the revolution despite my issues with the Arxiv and its administration. đ
@mike_usher I donât fully disagree. Letâs put it this way, the arxiv probably did more good than harm so Iâve been reluctant to discuss its issues. It is also part of a complex and that complex is the issue. It isnât right to discuss it in isolation. It is part of an ecosystem.
ChatGPD thinks its a breakthrough to fake academic texts that even experts canât distinguish. Yet the snarxiv beats us since 2010
Was thinking the same.
But I think it is because an enormous part of the hep-th arxiv is disingenuous physics. âSterile neutrinos from Non-commutative spacetime SUSY phenomenology over characteristic p not equal to 2.â could be a paper in a field gone mad. Or it could be a joke.

