Editing Quantum Gravity (section)

== Abrupt Emergence and Non-Historical Status ==
Weinstein repeatedly states that [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] is not a natural or longstanding goal but a sudden replacement for earlier pursuits like Unified Field Theory, lacking historical precedence.

* "There is an interesting story I don’t know well enough. Many will recall the phrase 'Unified Field Theory' as the hoped for ‘Theory of Everything.’ At some point this got replaced by [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] as the goal. Does anyone know the full story behind this? Was it ‘70s? And how?" (February 17, 2019).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1097020781987475457 February 17, 2019]</ref>
* [[Quantum Gravity|"Quantum Gravity]] is a 69 year long slow-motion suicide pact. Can we discuss it? No we cannot. That would require discussing its modern origins in 1953 and 1957. It is, by now, too big to fail. It is not even the elephant in the room. It’s the blue whale in physics’ linen closet." (November 7, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589644546920837120 November 7, 2022]</ref>
* "[[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] is not the historical “Holy Grail” of physics as is currently claimed." (June 21, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1936556106927899919 June 21, 2025]</ref>
* "I don't think [Quantum Gravity] as it is practiced is a real research program. It is the obvious candidate for the 'inhibitor' that, when added to research, stagnated physics...and it didn't come out of some longstanding program from the birth of quantum mechanics. It came out of nowhere right before we stopped making progress on the Lagrangian of the real world." (June 12, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1932978908464623855 June 12, 2025]</ref>
* "There is a tell when listening to physics folks as to whether they’re captured by the 1984 Quantum Gravity virus. They either say: A) “General Relativity has to be reconciled with the Standard Model.” or B) “[[General Relativity]] has to be reconciled with Quantum Theory.”" (October 30, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1983883266920837120 October 30, 2025]</ref>
* "I would point you to my favorite documents. Gell-Mann’s 1983 Keynote from Shelter Island II is the best of all because it is RIGHT before the GS anomaly cancellation. [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] is not one of the leading 4 problems at the time. Clearly... Witten’s 1986 'Physics and Geometry' address to the ICM. It is clear that the quantum is not even in the top 3 insights of fundamental physics as he sees it. It’s all classical field theory. And that is Ed. This [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] focus titrated by energy level is a very late focus. It’s a very Ken Wilson/[[Quantum Field Theory|QFT]] centric view of the [[Standard Model|SM]]." (November 2, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1985096216920837120 November 2, 2025]</ref>

He ties this to post-Manhattan Project changes: "We took whole areas of physics off line after the Manhattan project and that was *NOT* limited to just the Nuclear Physics of nuclear warheads" (June 12, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1932978911018954943 June 12, 2025]</ref>
* "CLAIM: These FAKE and REAL programs will keep going and extend to [[The Golden Age of General Relativity|'The Golden Age of General Relativity']]." (June 12, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1932978913602584840 June 12, 2025]</ref>