The string landscape might be a fascinating idea that’s full of theoretical potential, but it doesn’t predict anything that we can observe in our Universe. This idea of beauty, motivated by solving ‘unnatural’ problems, is not enough on its own to rise to the level required by science. (University of Cambridge)

Is Theoretical Physics Wasting Our Best Living Minds On Nonsense?

There’s no such thing as a theory that’s too beautiful to be wrong, if it doesn’t agree with experiment.

The history of physics is filled with great ideas that you’ve heard of, like the Standard Model, the Big Bang, General Relativity, and so on. But it’s also filled with brilliant ideas that you probably haven’t heard of, like the Sakata Model, Technicolor theory, the Steady State Model. and Plasma Cosmology. Today, we have theories that are highly fashionable, but without any evidence for them: supersymmetry, grand unification, string theory, and the multiverse.

Because of the way the field is structured, mired in a sycophancy of ideas, careers in theoretical high-energy physics that focus on these topics are often successful. On the other hand, choosing other topics means going it alone. The idea of “beauty” or “naturalness” has been a guiding principle in physics for a long time, and has led us to this point. In her new book, Lost In Math, Sabine Hossenfelder convincingly argues that continuing to adhere to this principle is exactly what’s leading us astray.