THE TROUBLE WITH PHYSICS

  • Lee Smolin | Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Theoretical physicist Smolin argues that the study of physics has lost its way in the past two decades, largely because string theory has captured the imagination of both the public and some prominent physicists. There is one deep flaw he sees in string theory: no part of it has been tested and no one knows how to test it. In fact, the theory appears to come in an infinite number of versions, meaning that no experiment will ever be able to prove it false. Yet it has soaked up the lion’s share of funding, attracted some of the best minds and even penalized young physicists who question it. The search for a theory of everything that is both “beautiful” and “elegant” has, he argues, derailed progress in the world of physics. Smolin will discuss the rise and fall of string theory and outline some exciting new ideas that can replace it-and are testable.

Speaker Details

Lee Smolin was educated at Hampshire College and Harvard University, and is the author of THE LIFE OF THE COSMOS, THREE ROADS TO QUANTUM GRAVITY and THE TROUBLE WITH PHYSICS. Smolin is known for his work in quantum gravity for advocating that the two primary approaches to that subject (loop quantum gravity and string theory) may eventually be reconciled as different aspects of the same theory. His most famous suggestion may be his fecund universes theory, also know as cosmological natural selection, which attempts to apply principles of biological evolution to cosmology.

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