Customer Rating: 
Summary: How Should Physics be Governed?
Comment: What shocked me most about Smolin's account of string theory is his claim that many of its leading lights have paid too little attention to mathematical rigor or even to a clean mathematical specification of their theory. If true, this is a major scandal. In most professions, this sort of sloppiness would be grounds for losing a job or even being prosecuted if something goes wrong. To hear that string theorists are perhaps not always intellectually sound is discouraging. They have raised exaggerated expectations about what their framework accomplishes (hype), and their methods have not always been sound (malpractice). Smolin is of course much more polite, and recognizes that many of the ideas advanced by string theory needed to be explored even if they prove fruitless or wrong. But his book does show clearly that something has gone seriously wrong with the internal governance of the physics profession.
Brian Green, a leading string theorist, says the following in his contribution to "The New Physics" (2006): "It might be argued that string theory has so far failed [] since it has not yet made very detailed connections with experiment." He goes on to hold out the hope that "Ultimately, the tests of the theory are likely to come from cosmological observations that detect the state of the Universe during the first moments after the Big Bang." Anyone who has read the cosmology literature knows how often inferences have to be piled on top of inferences in an attempt to arrive at a consistent explanation of what is observed from humanity's single vantage point and with our imperfect instruments. The kind of cosmology that would be needed to test string theory is not exactly around the corner. Moreover, I always had the impression that cosmologists are looking more to other branches of physics to help them make sense of their observations than the other way around.
Aside from his criticism of string theory, Smolin makes an inspiring argument for new and more diverse approaches to unsolved problems in physics, among which he includes unifying general relativity and quantum theory, establishing sounder foundations for quantum mechanics, unifying all particles and forces as manifestations of a single fundamental entity, explaining the constants used in the theory, and resolving the puzzle of dark matter and energy in cosmology. The book helpfully names and discusses a number of theorists the author thinks are currently making the most interesting contributions to solving these problems. Without Smolin's expert guidance, it is unlikely that a reader would independently come across these fascinating contributions.
The chapters on the sociology of physics will be unsurprising to anyone who has worked in academia. However, if Smolin's revelations about groupthink and sloppy mathematics in the physics profession are even half true, they raise concerns about other areas of physics as well. Given the importance of physics to the fate of mankind, at least since the invention of the atom bomb, it is clearly time to develop new principles for the governance of this essential group of brilliant, but still human and imperfect, thinkers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Alternative View
Comment: Lee Smolin presents his case not for why string theory should be dropped, but why other theories should be pursued more vigorously. Rather than demonizing string theory, Smolin looks at the theory's successes and failures and then moves beyond that to discussing the sociology of science in general, and this is his main issue. Smolin says the system is set up to keep alternative theories out, while the fashionable theories get all the attention, and that this system is perhaps the reason why theoretical physics has been stuck for so long. Great book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb...
Comment: So many reviewers have said so many things, let me just add this: During the past thirty years, we have seen the rise of religious ideology and its disastrous effects on our political system, not to mention our national finances and national reputation.
How interesting that science has experienced the same things, the same disasters born of the same focus on ideology rather than factuality, in the same time period.
This book is the first BIG public demonstration that this period may be coming to an end.
The disaster of string theory, and the Irag war, both prove the same thing: ignoring the dictates of reason, and setting aside facts for fantasy, always leads us to the same place: nowhere we want to be!
Thank you Lee Smolin.
A must-have for anyone interested in their world. And an instant classic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent book - Must add a point other reviews have missed...
Comment: Peter Shor provides an excellent summarizing review of the first half to three-quarters of the book. But he largely skimped on what I think Smolin's main focus was, based on reading Smolin's website and the author's notes in the book, when he began the book. The last few chapters are concerning the role of academia in maintaining integrity throughout their ranks. If Smolin is correct, and this book provides excellent support to believe so, this has not been done with string theory, regardless of whether it is a correct theory or not. It is an extremely volatile subject that is likely to explode in the next few decades, and not only in physics but all academic fields.
I feel the situations is complicated, but can be roughly simplified as the selfishness and fear of a group of highly respected (and sometimes also highly paid, but not always) individuals who perceived that they were not making any progress and seek to protect their respected status through manipulation. They are essentially echoing an everyday experience - even the most ignorant person can seem quite capable if they merely exude enough self confidence. Well, according to the accounts by Smolin and many others, the string theorists are doing exactly that - holding onto excessive and unfounded confidence. Unfortunately, the first step in gaining knowledge is to admit that you already possess none.
Smolin takes a much less accusational stance than I do here, but he spends a significant amount of time in his book discussing this issue and it should not be left out of the reviews.
--G. Hill
Customer Rating:
Summary: The String Snapped
Comment: Lee Smolin, a fair-to-middling popularizer of physics vents his anger at himself and others for pursuing the chimera of an 11 (or more) dimensional universe and a "theory" that produces 10^500 distinct theories. Unfortunately for the reader, Smolin manages not to define his terms, and gives no clue to how this number of 10^500 was arrived at, nor even what a distinct theory means.
The book is almost solely interesting for its treatment of the sociology of string theory and the way its practitioners monopolized high energy particle theory for much more than a decade.
Summary: How Should Physics be Governed?
Comment: What shocked me most about Smolin's account of string theory is his claim that many of its leading lights have paid too little attention to mathematical rigor or even to a clean mathematical specification of their theory. If true, this is a major scandal. In most professions, this sort of sloppiness would be grounds for losing a job or even being prosecuted if something goes wrong. To hear that string theorists are perhaps not always intellectually sound is discouraging. They have raised exaggerated expectations about what their framework accomplishes (hype), and their methods have not always been sound (malpractice). Smolin is of course much more polite, and recognizes that many of the ideas advanced by string theory needed to be explored even if they prove fruitless or wrong. But his book does show clearly that something has gone seriously wrong with the internal governance of the physics profession.
Brian Green, a leading string theorist, says the following in his contribution to "The New Physics" (2006): "It might be argued that string theory has so far failed [] since it has not yet made very detailed connections with experiment." He goes on to hold out the hope that "Ultimately, the tests of the theory are likely to come from cosmological observations that detect the state of the Universe during the first moments after the Big Bang." Anyone who has read the cosmology literature knows how often inferences have to be piled on top of inferences in an attempt to arrive at a consistent explanation of what is observed from humanity's single vantage point and with our imperfect instruments. The kind of cosmology that would be needed to test string theory is not exactly around the corner. Moreover, I always had the impression that cosmologists are looking more to other branches of physics to help them make sense of their observations than the other way around.
Aside from his criticism of string theory, Smolin makes an inspiring argument for new and more diverse approaches to unsolved problems in physics, among which he includes unifying general relativity and quantum theory, establishing sounder foundations for quantum mechanics, unifying all particles and forces as manifestations of a single fundamental entity, explaining the constants used in the theory, and resolving the puzzle of dark matter and energy in cosmology. The book helpfully names and discusses a number of theorists the author thinks are currently making the most interesting contributions to solving these problems. Without Smolin's expert guidance, it is unlikely that a reader would independently come across these fascinating contributions.
The chapters on the sociology of physics will be unsurprising to anyone who has worked in academia. However, if Smolin's revelations about groupthink and sloppy mathematics in the physics profession are even half true, they raise concerns about other areas of physics as well. Given the importance of physics to the fate of mankind, at least since the invention of the atom bomb, it is clearly time to develop new principles for the governance of this essential group of brilliant, but still human and imperfect, thinkers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Alternative View
Comment: Lee Smolin presents his case not for why string theory should be dropped, but why other theories should be pursued more vigorously. Rather than demonizing string theory, Smolin looks at the theory's successes and failures and then moves beyond that to discussing the sociology of science in general, and this is his main issue. Smolin says the system is set up to keep alternative theories out, while the fashionable theories get all the attention, and that this system is perhaps the reason why theoretical physics has been stuck for so long. Great book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb...
Comment: So many reviewers have said so many things, let me just add this: During the past thirty years, we have seen the rise of religious ideology and its disastrous effects on our political system, not to mention our national finances and national reputation.
How interesting that science has experienced the same things, the same disasters born of the same focus on ideology rather than factuality, in the same time period.
This book is the first BIG public demonstration that this period may be coming to an end.
The disaster of string theory, and the Irag war, both prove the same thing: ignoring the dictates of reason, and setting aside facts for fantasy, always leads us to the same place: nowhere we want to be!
Thank you Lee Smolin.
A must-have for anyone interested in their world. And an instant classic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent book - Must add a point other reviews have missed...
Comment: Peter Shor provides an excellent summarizing review of the first half to three-quarters of the book. But he largely skimped on what I think Smolin's main focus was, based on reading Smolin's website and the author's notes in the book, when he began the book. The last few chapters are concerning the role of academia in maintaining integrity throughout their ranks. If Smolin is correct, and this book provides excellent support to believe so, this has not been done with string theory, regardless of whether it is a correct theory or not. It is an extremely volatile subject that is likely to explode in the next few decades, and not only in physics but all academic fields.
I feel the situations is complicated, but can be roughly simplified as the selfishness and fear of a group of highly respected (and sometimes also highly paid, but not always) individuals who perceived that they were not making any progress and seek to protect their respected status through manipulation. They are essentially echoing an everyday experience - even the most ignorant person can seem quite capable if they merely exude enough self confidence. Well, according to the accounts by Smolin and many others, the string theorists are doing exactly that - holding onto excessive and unfounded confidence. Unfortunately, the first step in gaining knowledge is to admit that you already possess none.
Smolin takes a much less accusational stance than I do here, but he spends a significant amount of time in his book discussing this issue and it should not be left out of the reviews.
--G. Hill
Customer Rating:
Summary: The String Snapped
Comment: Lee Smolin, a fair-to-middling popularizer of physics vents his anger at himself and others for pursuing the chimera of an 11 (or more) dimensional universe and a "theory" that produces 10^500 distinct theories. Unfortunately for the reader, Smolin manages not to define his terms, and gives no clue to how this number of 10^500 was arrived at, nor even what a distinct theory means.
The book is almost solely interesting for its treatment of the sociology of string theory and the way its practitioners monopolized high energy particle theory for much more than a decade.
The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next Reviews: Page 2 of 20
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