Dave Farber
2018-07-02 13:01:18 UTC
Date: July 2, 2018 at 9:10:59 PM GMT+9
Subject: How Physics Lost its Way
How Physics Lost its Way
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder claims the desire for beauty and other subjective biases have led physicists astray.
Does anyone who follows physics doubt it is in trouble? When I say physics, I donât mean applied physics, material science or what Murray-Gell-Mann called âsqualid-state physics.â I mean physics at its grandest, the effort to figure out reality. Where did the universe come from? What is it made of? What laws govern its behavior? And how probable is the universe? Are we here through sheer luck, or was our existence somehow inevitable?
.... For an authoritative critique of this grand quest, check out the fascinating, painfully honest new book Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, by Sabine Hossenfelder. Hossenfelder, who specializes in quantum gravity, became a physicist two decades ago because she believed that physics represents our best hope of understanding reality. With its combination of mathematical logic and empirical evidence, physics helps us overcome wishful thinking and other biases. Ideally.
Lost in Math tells the story of Hossenfelderâs disillusionment, her realization that subjective factors, such as an obsession with beauty, have infected physics. Aesthetic considerations guide physicistsâ judgments of strings, inflation, supersymmetry, multiverses and the many different interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Physicists seem to adhere to Keatsâs old aphorism that truth equals beauty. In the absence of data, that principle reduces physics to a matter of taste, not truth. You like string theory and Bach, I prefer loop-space theory and the Beatles. âIâm not sure anymore that what we do here, in the foundations of physics, is science,â Hossenfelder writes. âAnd if not, why am I wasting my time with it?â...
Continue reading at https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/how-physics-lost-its-way/
-------------------------------------------Subject: How Physics Lost its Way
How Physics Lost its Way
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder claims the desire for beauty and other subjective biases have led physicists astray.
Does anyone who follows physics doubt it is in trouble? When I say physics, I donât mean applied physics, material science or what Murray-Gell-Mann called âsqualid-state physics.â I mean physics at its grandest, the effort to figure out reality. Where did the universe come from? What is it made of? What laws govern its behavior? And how probable is the universe? Are we here through sheer luck, or was our existence somehow inevitable?
.... For an authoritative critique of this grand quest, check out the fascinating, painfully honest new book Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, by Sabine Hossenfelder. Hossenfelder, who specializes in quantum gravity, became a physicist two decades ago because she believed that physics represents our best hope of understanding reality. With its combination of mathematical logic and empirical evidence, physics helps us overcome wishful thinking and other biases. Ideally.
Lost in Math tells the story of Hossenfelderâs disillusionment, her realization that subjective factors, such as an obsession with beauty, have infected physics. Aesthetic considerations guide physicistsâ judgments of strings, inflation, supersymmetry, multiverses and the many different interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Physicists seem to adhere to Keatsâs old aphorism that truth equals beauty. In the absence of data, that principle reduces physics to a matter of taste, not truth. You like string theory and Bach, I prefer loop-space theory and the Beatles. âIâm not sure anymore that what we do here, in the foundations of physics, is science,â Hossenfelder writes. âAnd if not, why am I wasting my time with it?â...
Continue reading at https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/how-physics-lost-its-way/
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