Is Beaty right?

Thread Starter

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
Mr. Beaty over here has some interesting rants on subjects
Beaty attempts to redefine electronics through shouting the loudest. A contrarian view is not necessarily correct, however. Despite his many assertions that the rest of us have it wrong, it is hard to not notice that convention has worked extremely well

As ever, the question to answer is: "Is the world out of step with me, or am I out of step with it?"
 

Ghar

Joined Mar 8, 2010
655
I agree he's loud (I did call it a rant) and he is pretty overbearing but I do agree with him on many, many points.
I'd be interested in seeing which assertions you guys are talking about.
 

b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
I've been an admirer of Mr. Beaty for quite some time...maybe he ain't always right..but the guy does talk sense....most of the time! ;)
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
The titles says it all, typical Beaty bullcorn. Much as I wanted to look the article, it is incompatible with my version of Word, and locked up my computer for a while. Try a PDF file.
 

b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
The titles says it all, typical Beaty bullcorn. Much as I wanted to look the article, it is incompatible with my version of Word, and locked up my computer for a while. Try a PDF file.
Sorry abt that ;) do not have a pdf file converter...why so much aversion to Beaty??
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Because I have heard him quote absolute BS several times, and not back down a bit. If I'm wrong I will admit it, and have many times on this site. Some people, usually the ones who think an education is a match for experience, will not admit when they are wrong. When you meet someone like this be very careful what you accept as Gospel from them, they will never ever correct anything they say. Being Right is more important that being correct.

With good teachers being correct is more important than their ego. Incorrect information propagates. If you want to teach (which is the main purpose of this site) you must be willing to step back and look at what you are presenting and the truth.

One side note, many times analogies are taught to beginners to allow them to wrap their head around the concept. This is true with AM radio and the modulation envelope, for example. Once they have certain concepts down you can teach them more correct concepts. It actually speeds learning in many cases.
 
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b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
When you meet someone like this be very careful what you accept as Gospel from them, they will never ever correct anything they say. Being Right is more important that being correct.

With good teachers being correct is more important than their ego.
But then can one consider textbook theory too as Gospel truth??...who knows the same is verified... we tend to blindly believe whatever we are taught in grad school...sometimes education comes thru experience!...(by saying this, I'm no fan of Beaty)...but just for sake of discussion
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
You can compare conventional theory with what Beaty teaches, it is not hard. On top of that one of the things about electronics is it is true science, you can verify anything with personal experimentation. Don't ignore facts that you don't like though, this is also part of science. Many times Beaty wants to twist facts when conventional theory does a better job of explaining the facts. Some of his material is pretty good, but the bad flavor my overall impression.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a scientist, I almost made it. In many ways I did make it, since I have written a lot of experiments for beginners. The key is reproducibility, not just theory.
 

b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
You can compare conventional theory with what Beaty teaches, it is not hard. On top of that one of the things about electronics is it is true science, you can verify anything with personal experimentation. Don't ignore facts that you don't like though, this is also part of science. Many times Beaty wants to twist facts when conventional theory does a better job of explaining the facts. Some of his material is pretty good, but the bad flavor my overall impression.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a scientist, I almost made it. In many ways I did make it, since I have written a lot of experiments for beginners. The key is reproducibility, not just theory.

Any article in particular which is unpalatable to you?
 

neonstrobe

Joined May 15, 2009
190
Oh dear. It seems that one of Mr Beaty's tricks is to set up a false statement to knock it down. "Electrons filling up with energy" - of course this is not quite right. In a circuit with a battery and bulb, the electrons certainly do have more energy, however. Normally, in a wire, they are moving very rapidly in random directions all of the time. They lose energy on colliding with copper atoms. In the absence of a battery (no overall current) the energy lost is equal to the energy gained, which is why they move. Energy comes from room temperature (thermal energy) which only is zero at absoloute zero. When a current flows, the overall energy loss is greater, but equates to the energy supplied by the battery. In the copper wires, electrons are pushed around the wire, and lose energy just as they do in the filament, it is just that we don't notice the power lost in the wire because the resistance is low, most of the energy is dissipated in the filament.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
To Beenthere, thank you.

Some of it may be teaching style, but I don't think so. When I first became aware of some of the YouTube videos I did a bit of looking. Some of what he said made sense, but then came some outrageous claims. We have had several members quote Beaty to the point of pseudoscience, which isn't really welcome here. In teaching people new to the field it is important to stick with the facts. Electronics can be hard enough without complicating it even further.

Fact is, conventional theory exists because it explains the most things. Some of things Beaty wants to redefine that which doesn't need redefining, it appears to me to be an exercise in ego. Over time theory may change, but it doesn't need a paragram shift Beaty thinks it does.

Truth, I don't even remember some of stuff he put forth that was objectionable. I have a hard enough time dealing with reality, and didn't bother to learn the bullcorn.
 

b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
Fact is, conventional theory exists because it explains the most things. Some of things Beaty wants to redefine that which doesn't need redefining, it appears to me to be an exercise in ego. Over time theory may change, but it doesn't need a paragram shift Beaty thinks it does.

Truth, I don't even remember some of stuff he put forth that was objectionable. I have a hard enough time dealing with reality, and didn't bother to learn the bullcorn.
his theories did help on few occasions
 

b.shahvir

Joined Jan 6, 2009
457
well...while understanding electric charges in motion, behavior of magnetic fields, electrostatics, capacitance, electric fields, etc... his articles help in visualizing electrical concepts.
 
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