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The Trouble with Physics
SpaceAdmiral writes "You've likely heard of Lee Smolin's book The Trouble with Physics. It has created a lot of controversy because it argues that string theory gets far too much attention and money, despite a complete lack of evidence. It accuses string theorists of groupthink. Smolin has dabbled in string theory from time to time but he's a proponent of the alternative loop quantum gravity. Although irrelevant to this book review, he has also suggested that it is possible that universes reproduce via black holes, making them prone to pressure similar to natural selection (universes that produce a lot of black holes are more successful spawners than those that don't). In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins quotes Nobel-winner Murray Gell-Mann as once saying, "Smolin? Is he that young guy with those crazy ideas? He may not be wrong."" Read the rest of SpaceAdmiral's review.
The Trouble with Physics
author
Lee Smolin
pages
392pp
publisher
Houghton Mifflin Company
rating
9
reviewer
Fane Henderson
ISBN
0618551050
summary
The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
The Trouble with Physics is very unlike most pop-physics books not only in its criticism of string theory, but in its open adulation of Einstein and skepticism of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. Having said that, it does provide a very decent summary of 20th century physics (including string theory) for laypeople, not unlike more traditional pop-physics books (e.g. by Hawking and Greene).
The book's main criticisms of string theory are that it makes no testable predictions and that some things string theorists take for granted haven't been rigorously proven mathematically. Smolin is highly skeptical of many string theorists' reliance on the Anthropomorphic Principle.
The book becomes most interesting somewhere in the middle where he discuses truly controversial approaches to physics. This includes things like MOND, which, interestingly enough, Smolin is skeptical of.
In case you've forgotten your high-school physics, I'm going to use this paragraph to refresh your memory of special relativity to prepare you for the next couple paragraphs. The basic idea of special relativity is that the speed of light is constant. Pretend that I am shining a light at you while (A) standing still relative to you; (B) moving towards you at half the speed of light, and; (C) moving away from you at half the speed of light. In all three scenarios, I will accurately measure the light moving away from me at 3,000,000 km/s and you will accurately measure the light moving toward you at 3,000,000 km/s. To ensure this result, distances and times will have to be different for me than they are for you, except in case (A).
Now I'll quickly remind you of the Planck length: This is a theoretical limit on how small something can be. According to Smolin, all versions of quantum gravity seem to suggest the Planck length as a limit. But would observers moving relative to each other disagree about the Planck length?
I used to be a big fan of MOND (in a layperson sense) until Smolin introduced me to DSR (doubly special relativity) and DSR II. The basic idea is that it may be possible to modify the theories of relativity such that observers agree not only on a constant speed of light, but also on a constant Planck length. It's not unreasonable to guess that a modification of this sort could solve some of the same problems MOND does (e.g. explain astronomical observations without resorting to dark matter and dark energy). Furthermore, since DSR in its current incarnation predicts that more energetic photons are slightly faster than less energetic photons (only the speed of the least energetic photons is constant in DSR), it could also explain away, for example, inflation in the Big Bang model. (Immediately after the Big Bang, everything was hotter and more energetic, so the average speed of light would have been faster than it is now if DSR is correct.) Although I'm not qualified to judge the actual mathematics of such a theory, I find it very appealing for reasons of consilience.
I was slightly disappointed with the final chapters of Smolin's book since, despite an obvious effort to the contrary, it struck me as awfully bitter and reeked of sour grapes. Leaving physics in favor of sociology, he lambasted the current tenure and peer review systems (particularly in the United States) as favoring Master Craftspeople (like those scientists who developed the standard model of particle physics) over Seers (like Einstein, Bohr, and de Broglie) who look at the deep questions of physics that border on the philosophical rather than the latest technical problem. A few interesting things do emerge in these chapters. One such thing is that Smolin seems to have a soft spot for Paul Feyerabend as a philosopher of science (despite describing himself as a proud Popperazzo in an endnote). Another is that Smolin thinks a scientist who is hated by half his senior colleagues and loved by the other half is likely better than a scientist who is liked by all his senior colleagues. I strongly recommend this book.
You can purchase The Trouble with Physics from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The Trouble with Physics is very unlike most pop-physics books not only in its criticism of string theory, but in its open adulation of Einstein and skepticism of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. Having said that, it does provide a very decent summary of 20th century physics (including string theory) for laypeople, not unlike more traditional pop-physics books (e.g. by Hawking and Greene).
The book's main criticisms of string theory are that it makes no testable predictions and that some things string theorists take for granted haven't been rigorously proven mathematically. Smolin is highly skeptical of many string theorists' reliance on the Anthropomorphic Principle.
The book becomes most interesting somewhere in the middle where he discuses truly controversial approaches to physics. This includes things like MOND, which, interestingly enough, Smolin is skeptical of.
In case you've forgotten your high-school physics, I'm going to use this paragraph to refresh your memory of special relativity to prepare you for the next couple paragraphs. The basic idea of special relativity is that the speed of light is constant. Pretend that I am shining a light at you while (A) standing still relative to you; (B) moving towards you at half the speed of light, and; (C) moving away from you at half the speed of light. In all three scenarios, I will accurately measure the light moving away from me at 3,000,000 km/s and you will accurately measure the light moving toward you at 3,000,000 km/s. To ensure this result, distances and times will have to be different for me than they are for you, except in case (A).
Now I'll quickly remind you of the Planck length: This is a theoretical limit on how small something can be. According to Smolin, all versions of quantum gravity seem to suggest the Planck length as a limit. But would observers moving relative to each other disagree about the Planck length?
I used to be a big fan of MOND (in a layperson sense) until Smolin introduced me to DSR (doubly special relativity) and DSR II. The basic idea is that it may be possible to modify the theories of relativity such that observers agree not only on a constant speed of light, but also on a constant Planck length. It's not unreasonable to guess that a modification of this sort could solve some of the same problems MOND does (e.g. explain astronomical observations without resorting to dark matter and dark energy). Furthermore, since DSR in its current incarnation predicts that more energetic photons are slightly faster than less energetic photons (only the speed of the least energetic photons is constant in DSR), it could also explain away, for example, inflation in the Big Bang model. (Immediately after the Big Bang, everything was hotter and more energetic, so the average speed of light would have been faster than it is now if DSR is correct.) Although I'm not qualified to judge the actual mathematics of such a theory, I find it very appealing for reasons of consilience.
I was slightly disappointed with the final chapters of Smolin's book since, despite an obvious effort to the contrary, it struck me as awfully bitter and reeked of sour grapes. Leaving physics in favor of sociology, he lambasted the current tenure and peer review systems (particularly in the United States) as favoring Master Craftspeople (like those scientists who developed the standard model of particle physics) over Seers (like Einstein, Bohr, and de Broglie) who look at the deep questions of physics that border on the philosophical rather than the latest technical problem. A few interesting things do emerge in these chapters. One such thing is that Smolin seems to have a soft spot for Paul Feyerabend as a philosopher of science (despite describing himself as a proud Popperazzo in an endnote). Another is that Smolin thinks a scientist who is hated by half his senior colleagues and loved by the other half is likely better than a scientist who is liked by all his senior colleagues. I strongly recommend this book.
You can purchase The Trouble with Physics from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
did he write this book using 12 sided dice and a lot of caffeine?
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Hrm, is their a Misanthropic Principle? That the physical constants of the universe are the way they are to make our lives miserable?
Look how much money the pr0n industry makes.
...wait a minute! THAT string theory ... oops!
Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in trouble again.
In nhavar's quote, nhavar quotes slashdot editors who posted a story, in which Richard Dawkins was quoted as writing that Nobel-winner Murray Gell-Mann once said, "Smolin? Is he that young guy with those crazy ideas? He may not be wrong."
As a layman, I'll wait until the mod points are assigned on this article's comments. Then I'll have a reliable introduction to theoretical physics.
OK, so it's an obvious joke. Sue me.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
I think the point being made here is that todays nutjob is often tomorrows nobel winner. Besides you don't get to hear much from Richard ever since he left Family Feud.
(Yeah I am just kidding, I know it is Richard Dawson who is of Family Feud fame)
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Hey sub atomic particles have feelings too you know. Even though we are time sensitive, we like to get to know one another over a drink or dinner and not be smashed into each other in cyclotrons.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
No, he did indeed mean the Anthropomorphic Principle, the one where strings act like people. Smolin is right to be highly skeptical of string theorists' reliance on yarn finger puppets to do serious research.
I've got a neutron here that wants to kick your ass for saying that.
You've never heard of up quarks? They're on a 24-hour high. Pity their poor brothers the down quarks though, life sucks and they want to kill themselves. Then you've got the strange quarks, they're just a bit weird, keep them away from your kids. The charm quarks are great to talk to. And last we've got the top and bottom quarks - well, they are consenting adults and what happens in the privacy of their own home is none of our business ;)
His theory is full of holes.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The 90s called, they want their theory back.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
I must point out String Theory Summarized from xkcd.
How about a lycanthropic principal? That if the physical constants were changed we would transform into something else?
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.