Quantum Gravity: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Quantum-Gravity-is-the-blue-whale-in-physics'-linen-closet.jpg|thumb|''"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."'' ~ Eric Weinstein (Nov 7, 2022)<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589644546920837120 November 7, 2022]</ref>]]


== On X ==
Eric Weinstein discusses [[Quantum Gravity|Quantum Gravity (QG)]] as a non-historical paradigm that emerged abruptly, induced stagnation in fundamental physics, and enforces false but unquestionable narratives, potentially tied to institutional or security motives. He contrasts it with alternatives like [[Theory of Geometric Unity|Geometric Unity (GU)]], emphasizing unification over quantization. Below is a breakdown organized thematically, drawing verbatim from his social media posts.


=== 2016 ===
== 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>
 
== QG as a Paralyzing and Stagnating Force ==
Weinstein describes QG as inducing "permanent paralytic failure," turning physics into unfailing "toy models" and causing 50-year stagnation.
 
* "Instantly stop all progress in the world’s most successful scientific community using only two words inducing permanent paralytic failure that cannot be questioned. I’ll go first: [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]]." (November 7, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589640516920837120 November 7, 2022]</ref>
* "By mumbling [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] every 2 minutes as a mantra and recasting actual High Energy Physics as “Phenomenology” they mis-educated an entire generation to think “toy physics” was real physics. It’s unbelievable. Toy physics is real geometry & topology. But it ain’t physics." (April 22, 2021).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263871347159044 April 22, 2021]</ref>
* "Real physics: A) Works with dimension 4. B) Works with SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1). C) Uses observed quantum numbers. D) Accepts Lorentzian Signature. E) Focuses on 3 Generation. There is *Nothing* wrong with toy models now and then. But we are talking *entire careers* playing with toys." (April 22, 2021).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263872240537604 April 22, 2021]</ref>
* "We tell people who are basically mathematicians that they’re physicists. Well, they aren’t. Physicists say things about the world. And those things *need* to be potentially wrong to qualify as physics. We have a culture of people who can’t *afford* error. So they just do math." (April 22, 2021).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263873117155328 April 22, 2021]</ref>
* "No theory lead advance in fundamental physics for almost 50 years, yet no soul searching about who lost physics?? Are we kidding?" (April 22, 2021).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263864481124360 April 22, 2021]</ref>
* "Physics in 1980: “I’m trying to grasp why nature has 3 generations of chiral fermions with SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) internal symmetry.” Physics Today: “Remind me again what the internal quantum numbers are? I do [quantum gravity] so it’s not something I’ve worked with since my QFT class.”" (August 24, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562460746920497153 August 24, 2022]</ref>
* "To put it bluntly, it is not just that [[Quantum Gravity]] doesn't work. It's that you can't comfortably question Quatnum Gravity because the failed investment is on a scale that I think is difficult for us to contemplate. It includes [StringTheory], Loop Quantum Gravity, AdS/CFT etc." (February 2, 2023).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1621054186920837120 February 2, 2023]</ref>
* "Next Year, will be 40 years of failure for modern [[String Theory|StringTheory]] to ship a product. To be clear and STEELMAN the argument for strings, it *is* a remarkable framework. It is REAL math. It teaches us things no other framework has. But, it *destroyed* the culture of honest physics." (February 2, 2023).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1621054190691975168 February 2, 2023]</ref>
* "We spent almost 80% of this time being told that ST was a 'Piece of 21st Century Physics that fell into the 20th Century.' Uh. Bullshit. That is an excuse. It's not clear that it's physics at all. It's a 'Failed piece of 20th Century Physics still hanging around in the 21stC'." (February 2, 2023).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1621054193426661376 February 2, 2023]</ref>
* "We need to spend perhaps 5yrs asking 'If the leaders have not succeeded for FIVE DECADES in moving beyond the [Standard Model], then why are they leading this field and directing the resources, research, and path forward? What if we listened to those who the leadership push aside?'" (February 2, 2023).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1621054201957847040 February 2, 2023]</ref>
* "And then the massive massive massive screw up was allowing the totalizing madness of [“Quantum Gravity”] to take over HEP-TH as if it were [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game In Town”]] and letting its leadership brainwash the up and coming talent into believing that there was one true path. Totally insane." (October 7, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1975659241781575728 October 7, 2025]</ref>
 
He calls for reforms: "I’d propose total reassessment of the National Physics program. Much greater autonomy for theorists. *Much* higher salaries. Much greater *diversity* of approaches. More high precision work. Fewer graduate programs. Physics = economic/security priority. Admit [[String Theory|String Thy]] failure." (April 22, 2021).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263862698577922 April 22, 2021]</ref>
 
== Ties to String Theory and Enforced Monopoly ==
Weinstein equates QG with String Theory (ST), criticizing its culture for rewriting standards, inability to fail, and "The Only Game in Town" (TOGIT) monopoly.
 
* "What has string theory done to become the poster child of failed physics? It hasn’t even failed... because it can’t fail. So far as I can see, it can never fail. In the minds of the faithful, It’s unable to fail because it *has* to be the way forward." (August 23, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562121666924504705 August 23, 2022]</ref>
* "A) High energy physics of real particles became the no-energy physics of toy models. B) Quantizing Gravity was substituted for unification or extension of the Standard model. C) Other research programs were obliterated because ST claimed it had it all rapped up. D) Hype won. E) Focus shifted to mathematical structure of abstract field/[[String Theory|String/M theory]]. Not our particular world’s choice of thy. F) Standards of scientific progress were rewritten to disguise failure. G) Differential application of standards became the norm. It ended physics culture." (August 24, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562463292345372672 August 24, 2022]</ref>
* "[String Theory] isn’t the problem. String culture is poisonous to science. String theory, like love, means never having to say your sorry. Or mistaken." (August 24, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562465038962610178 August 24, 2022]</ref>
* "The issue is the “String Theory is the only game in town” which appears designed to destroy fundamental physics itself... The defining feature of String Theory is that it would rather fundamental physics die than that String Theory face healthy adult rivals that were not maimed, crippled, stolen, or murdered in their cribs." (April 15, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1912032953896673603 April 15, 2025]</ref>
* "The appearance of [[String Theory|String-Theory/M-theory]] as [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game in Town” (TOGIT)]] has no precedence... The rivals never got heard." (August 16, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1956769068188594232 August 16, 2025]</ref>
* "Congratulations to: @thebadstats @daveexplains @GurusPod @IAmTimNguyen / @Google @Samuel_Gregson @C_Kavanagh @ArthurCDent @kagankans / @WSJ You just showed the world why Quantum Gravity/StringTheory/M-Theory is “The Only Game in Town”: Group Bullying * kills* Scientific Dissent" (September 17, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1968365361382002922 September 17, 2025]</ref>
* "Right Freeway: GR and SM must be harmonized. Wrong Exit: Catastrophic leadership decisions. “Gravity must be quantized and only String Theory and M-Theory can do it. Convert or perish! All mere mortals stand back. We will have this wrapped up in 10 years!! Give us all resources and young talent now.”" (October 7, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1975659241781575728 October 7, 2025]</ref>
 
In debates: "GUTs are a good test case. I believe you are in error going after Beauty when it comes to Grand Unified Theory. Your critique to Neil Degrasse Tyson recently applied to Georgi and Glashow Basic SU(5)…but not to Pati-Salaam SU(4) x SU(2) x SU(2) for example." (November 7, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589668086921473408 November 7, 2022]</ref>
 
== Institutional, Ethical, and Security Aspects ==
Weinstein speculates [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] as a "mass delusion" or construct to suppress dangerous physics, involving ethical issues and "Managed Reality."
 
* "The [[Quantum Gravity|Q-Gravity Mass Delusion]] is quite different in character. It is highly specific in its effect. It is tied to all sorts of weirdness involving top physics and math people, bizarre funders, forgotten research institutes, aerospace companies, post Manhattan Project government secrecy, the golden age of General Relativity and…words fail me…outright quackery." (November 7, 2022).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589666446920837120 November 7, 2022]</ref>
* "What I do wonder about is whether the U.S. government is blocking all public university fundamental physics preemptively with [quantum gravity]…while likely *failing* at it in secret (e.g. in national labs) as well." (June 22, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1936975226923150562 June 22, 2025]</ref>
* "We may be faking a [[Quantum Gravity]] revolution... We may be lying that all the competitors to String theory are all bad science or PseudoScience." (June 23, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1937032792971612619 June 23, 2025]</ref>
* "No researcher can afford to lose access to the arXiv. And no one talking openly about the actual [[Quantum Gravity]] mass delusion can have access to the journals & arXIv. You cannot challenge the QG narrative from the inside; its achievement is that it finally made physics *safe*." (June 3, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1930004307732247023 June 3, 2025]</ref>
* "We have a [[Quantum Gravity]] narrative... It’s all one thing that cannot be named: National Interest “[[Managed Reality TM|Managed Reality]].”" (July 5, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1941522174428565613 July 5, 2025]</ref>
* "[[Quantum Gravity]] has been a catastrophe... And in all cases you lose your standing in the community for saying the obvious." (September 25, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1971105526920837120 September 25, 2025]</ref>
* "The freedom of credentialed technical experts to dissent FROM WITHIN THE SYSTEM is at the heart of what is wrong with science..." (September 25, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1971105526920837120 September 25, 2025]</ref>
* "All physicists are expected to parrot a party line: 'Our two greatest theories are [[General Relativity]]... and the [[Standard Model]]... Unfortunately, they are incompatible because one is a quantum theory while the other is merely classical. That is why... a theory of [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity (QG)]] has been seen as the holy grail... But quantizing gravity must occur... So the ultimate theory of [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] remains physics’ top priority.' Or words to that effect. On the other hand this is wrong in many ways. But it can’t be discussed rationally because funding hinges on it. It’s a life or death fairy tale." (July 26, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1949075689174647063 July 26, 2025]</ref>
 
== Alternatives and Geometric Unity Contrasts ==
Weinstein positions GU as avoiding QG's issues, unifying via geometry without traditional quantization.
 
* "All 14 dimensions in GU are endogenous to Einstein's 4-dimensional spacetime <math>X^4</math>, derived from the bundle <math>Y^{14}(X^4)</math> of possible metric tensors." (Various posts; e.g., September 24, 2025).
* "GU rejects three generations of matter, positing two true generations plus one 'imposter.'... It predicts specific new particles... and makes explicit predictions (e.g., in section 11.3 on pages 52-53)." (September 24, 2025).
* "@seanmcarroll claims that there are no Lagrangian/Actions in GU. I put forward a DIRECT term for term comparison between his work and GU." (September 24, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1970936123791900806 September 24, 2025]</ref>
* "GR isn't a proper gauge theory because the Einstein projection <math>P_E(F_{\nabla})</math> doesn't commute with gauge actions, and spinors depend on the metric. GU liberates spinors from metrics, unifies curvatures <math>F</math>, and includes explicit Lagrangians." (Derived from multiple posts).
* "GU says: “That is eminently reasonable & sober, and is thus good solid science. Now get this defeatist mindset the hell away from me, go peer review each other, and hold my beer. Send lawyers, guns & money: let’s get back to American Cowboy science.”" (November 7, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1986803710551290047 November 7, 2025]</ref>
* He critiques QG's blocking: "The rivals never got heard." (August 16, 2025).<ref>[https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1956769068188594232 August 16, 2025]</ref>
 
In essence, Weinstein's posts depict QG as a "catastrophe" and "mass delusion" that "destroyed" physics culture, urging dissent and alternatives like GU. His language stresses its non-historical, paralyzing nature, with direct calls to question the enforced narrative.
 
 
== More On X ==
 
=== 2016 ===
 
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/767421719531237376
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=I find it peculiar how many theorists want to explain just how things work in [[Quantum Gravity|"Quantum Gravity."]]
 
Given, y'know, the absence of such a thy.
|timestamp=6:02 PM ¡ Aug 21, 2016
}}
 
=== 2018 ===
 
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958045232150425600
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=END/ My bet is on Type III for a reason:
 
Type I is not unified.</br>
Type II is possible, but appears to be unworkable in details.</br>
Type IV appears to lack sufficient guidance from Quantum theory to actually 'ship' despite consuming resources for yrs.</br>
Types V &amp; VI lack any progress.
|thread=
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958021546718633984
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=1/ "Theories of Everything": A Taxonomy.
 
It is often said that "Theories-of-Everything are a dime a dozen" or that "All theoretical physicists worth their salt have several in a drawer." So far as I can tell, this is simply untrue. We've barely ever, if at all, seen candidates.
|timestamp=4:58 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
|media1=ERW-X-post-958021546718633984-DUuQCV3UMAAmV4G.jpg
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958022612390563842
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=2/ The Escher Lithograph used in the first tweet points to the core of why TOEs are rare. A candidate TOE has to have some quality of "a fire that lights itself", which is difficult to think about beyond the equations that would instantiate it. Hence very few such theories exist.
|timestamp=5:02 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958026235736567808
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=3/ I'm going to lean on the following dictionary of analogies:
 
Physical Paper = Void
Pictured Canvas = Manifold and/or Einsteinian Spacetime
Ink=Matter &amp; non-gravitational force fields
Pencils = Pre-Conscious Lego (e.g. amino acids)
Hands = Consciousness
Paradox = Self-awareness
|timestamp=5:17 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958028114180714496
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=4/ In my taxonomy, Type I TOEs are our least ambitious but they best match our state of the world.  They are distinguished by two *separate* sources of origin: one for the Canvas ([[General Relativity]] or [[Ed Witten|Witten's]] point i) ) &amp; one for the Ink ([[Standard Model]] or [[Ed Witten|Witten's]] point ii) ).
|timestamp=5:24 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
|media1=ERW-X-post-928296366853328896-DOE8P81U8AA_MBe.jpg
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958032334346862592
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=5 Type II TOE's are more ambitious &amp; seek to derive the Ink from the choice of a mathematically distinguished Canvas that is anything but blank. My arch-nemesis @garrettlisi's theory is Type II. E8 is his 248 dimensional canvas. The intricacy is there, but doesn't quite match up.
|timestamp=5:41 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
|media1=ERW-X-post-958032334346862592-DUucltrVoAAvF2u.jpg
|media2=ERW-X-post-958032334346862592-DUucnc5VAAAtoC1.jpg
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958034414167982080
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=6/ In Type III TOEs the ink is to be derived from canvas, but the canvas is essentially blank; it simply permits mathematics to happen (e.g. calculus and linear algebra). In such theories the ink has to be bootstrapped into existence. My lectures on [[Theory of Geometric Unity|Geometric Unity]] were Type III.
|timestamp=5:49 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
|media1=ERW-X-post-958034414167982080-DUufH-dVAAAD8jD.jpg
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958037099457871872
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=7/ Type IV TOE's try to change the question from Einstein's "Unified Field Theory." In [[String Theory|String Thy]], [[Quantum Gravity|"Quantizing Gravity"]] became substituted for "Unified Field." For this crowd, many are now betting that the canvas &amp; ink are both *emergent* from some deeper fundamental quantum thy.
|timestamp=6:00 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
|media1=ERW-X-post-958037099457871872-DUuhS VVMAA3FyW.jpg
|media2=ERW-X-post-958037099457871872-DUuhXHwUQAAEICu.jpg
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{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958039046239928320
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=8/ Type V TOEs are of a type I've never been able to fully contemplate; they are without boundaries or origins. There is no "Why is there something rather than nothing" within them. That which is not forbidden is compelled into existence. Void creates canvas &amp; canvas begets void.
|timestamp=6:08 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958041865386827776
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=9/ Type VI TOEs begin with the hands. Religions are of this type. I pass over this in silence as they aren't scientific.
 
I will leave open higher types, but I've really only seen attempts at I-IV &amp; I wouldn't call [[String Theory|String-Thy/M-Thy]] a full TOE try since events of the last 15 yrs.
|timestamp=6:19 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/958043587349901312
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=10/ I believe fundamental physics is stalled out because we are finally at the doorstep of a TOE and we haven't really bothered to think about what that would actually mean because we've never been here before. A final step need not look like any previous one. In fact, it cannot.
|timestamp=6:26 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
|timestamp=6:32 PM ¡ Jan 29, 2018
}}
 
=== 2019 ===
 
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1097020781987475457
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=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?
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=NautilusMag-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/NautilusMag/status/1096393692405997568
|name=Nautilus Magazine
|usernameurl=https://x.com/NautilusMag
|username=NautilusMag
|content=Theoretical physicists have known since the 1930s that quantum gravity is necessary to bring order into the laws of nature, writes @skdh, but 80 years on, a solution isn’t anywhere in sight. http://bit.ly/break-gravity
|media1=NautilusMag-X-post-1096393692405997568.jpg
|timestamp=12:00 PM ¡ Feb 16, 2019
}}
|timestamp=6:31 AM ¡ Feb 17, 2019
}}
 
 
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1170821377537925121
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Ok. This is a weird take. The reluctance to engage foundations of quantum mechanics stemmed from the fact that it was far less generative than research in quantum field thy for decades. When Standard Model QFT stagnated &amp; [[Quantum Gravity]] stumbled, the opportunity cost decreased.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=Seanmcarroll-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/seanmcarroll/status/1170355961673863168
|name=Sean Carroll
|usernameurl=https://x.com/seanmcarroll
|username=seanmcarroll
|content=Shots fired! "Even Physicists Don’t Understand Quantum Mechanics. Worse, they don’t seem to want to understand it." -- me, in the New York Times @nytopinion #SomethingDeeply
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/quantum-physics.html
|timestamp=3:19 PM ¡ Sep 8, 2019
}}
|timestamp=10:09 PM ¡ Sep 8, 2019
}}
 
 
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1181416669664567298
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Does anyone know what @elonmusk thinks about the state of fundamental physics, unification, [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity]] and the impact any such progress may have on humanity’s chance for survival? I realize that I’ve never heard him connect fundamental physics progress to plans for humanity.
|timestamp=3:50 AM ¡ Oct 8, 2019
}}
 
=== 2021 ===


{{Tweet
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/767421719531237376
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385266147134631939
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=I find it peculiar how many theorists want to explain just how things work in [[Quantum Gravity|"Quantum Gravity."]]
|content=One last thought. If there aren’t very compelling UAF revelations coming our way, I’d redirect our interest in aliens towards terrestrial physics done by humans. If there were such revelations, then I’d *still* look to physics before tech, as 👽 *still* implies new physics to me.
 
|thread=
Given, y'know, the absence of such a thy.
|timestamp=6:02 PM ¡ Aug 21, 2016
}}
 
=== 2019 ===
 
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1097020781987475457
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263862698577922
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=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?
|content=I’d propose total reassessment of the National Physics program.
 
Much greater autonomy for theorists.</br>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Much* higher salaries.</br>
Much greater *diversity* of approaches.</br>
More high precision work.</br>
Fewer graduate programs.</br>
Physics = economic/security priority.</br>
Admit [[ Theory|String Thy]] failure.
|quote=
|quote=
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=NautilusMag-profile.jpg
|image=drhex2c-profile-x_v30TFI.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/NautilusMag/status/1096393692405997568
|nameurl=https://x.com/drhex2c/status/1385233677869883396
|name=Nautilus Magazine
|name=drhex2c
|usernameurl=https://x.com/NautilusMag
|usernameurl=https://x.com/drhex2c
|username=NautilusMag
|username=drhex2c
|content=Theoretical physicists have known since the 1930s that quantum gravity is necessary to bring order into the laws of nature, writes @skdh, but 80 years on, a solution isn’t anywhere in sight. http://bit.ly/break-gravity
|content=I see now you had a tweetstorm on this, rather than a single tweet. You're right, the physics of UFOs would be world changing, for good and for bad. What do you propose? Somehow keeping the tech within the US gov/military? Eventually it will leak out. Then what? No good solutions
|media1=NautilusMag-X-post-1096393692405997568.jpg
|timestamp=2:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|timestamp=12:00 PM ¡ Feb 16, 2019
}}
}}
|timestamp=6:31 AM ¡ Feb 17, 2019
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1170821377537925121
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263864481124360
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Ok. This is a weird take. The reluctance to engage foundations of quantum mechanics stemmed from the fact that it was far less generative than research in quantum field thy for decades. When Standard Model QFT stagnated &amp; [[Quantum Gravity]] stumbled, the opportunity cost decreased.
|content=We need to hire people who will upset the living hell out of the people doing the hiring.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=Seanmcarroll-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/seanmcarroll/status/1170355961673863168
|name=Sean Carroll
|usernameurl=https://x.com/seanmcarroll
|username=seanmcarroll
|content=Shots fired! "Even Physicists Don’t Understand Quantum Mechanics. Worse, they don’t seem to want to understand it." -- me, in the New York Times @nytopinion #SomethingDeeply


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/quantum-physics.html
We need to put fundamental physics theory in receivership. No theory lead advance in fundamental physics for almost 50 years, yet no soul searching about who lost physics?? Are we kidding?
|timestamp=3:19 PM ¡ Sep 8, 2019
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
|timestamp=10:09 PM ¡ Sep 8, 2019
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263868784496642
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=It’s time to stop listening to the same voices as if they hadn’t failed. This is a national priority, not a cult of personality for a STEM generation that had their time..and then ate their own young across every field. Is no one following what we did to destroy our own capacity?
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|media1=ERW-X-post-1385263868784496642-EzlyJZbVoAETYr-.jpg
|media2=ERW-X-post-1385263868784496642-EzlyJZbVkAIkCqJ.jpg
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1181416669664567298
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263870483206148
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Does anyone know what @elonmusk thinks about the state of fundamental physics, unification, [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity]] and the impact any such progress may have on humanity’s chance for survival? I realize that I’ve never heard him connect fundamental physics progress to plans for humanity.
|content=Or should we do yet more 2D Yang Mills on irrelevant groups in non physical signatures? Squarks/Sleptons? Ha!
|timestamp=3:50 AM ¡ Oct 8, 2019
 
Let’s say it clearly as everyone young is terrified to say it: the baby boomer theorists were successful as geometers while avoiding actual physics over entire careers.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
=== 2021 ===
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385266147134631939
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263871347159044
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=One last thought. If there aren’t very compelling UAF revelations coming our way, I’d redirect our interest in aliens towards terrestrial physics done by humans. If there were such revelations, then I’d *still* look to physics before tech, as 👽 *still* implies new physics to me.
|content=By mumbling [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] every 2 minutes as a mantra and recasting actual High Energy Physics as “Phenomenology” they mis-educated an entire generation to think “toy physics” was real physics. It’s unbelievable.
|thread=
 
Toy physics is real geometry &amp; topology. But it ain’t physics.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263862698577922
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263872240537604
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=I’d propose total reassessment of the National Physics program.
|content=Real physics:


Much greater autonomy for theorists.</br>
A) Works with dimension 4.</br>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Much* higher salaries.</br>
B) Works with SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1).</br>
Much greater *diversity* of approaches.</br>
C) Uses observed quantum numbers.</br>
More high precision work.</br>
D) Accepts Lorentzian Signature.</br>
Fewer graduate programs.</br>
E) Focuses on 3 Generation.
Physics = economic/security priority.</br>
 
Admit [[ Theory|String Thy]] failure.
There is *Nothing* wrong with toy models now and then. But we are talking *entire careers* playing with toys.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=drhex2c-profile-x_v30TFI.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/drhex2c/status/1385233677869883396
|name=drhex2c
|usernameurl=https://x.com/drhex2c
|username=drhex2c
|content=I see now you had a tweetstorm on this, rather than a single tweet. You're right, the physics of UFOs would be world changing, for good and for bad. What do you propose? Somehow keeping the tech within the US gov/military? Eventually it will leak out. Then what? No good solutions
|timestamp=2:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263864481124360
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263873117155328
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=We need to hire people who will upset the living hell out of the people doing the hiring.
|content=We tell people who are basically mathematicians that they’re physicists.
 
Well, they aren’t. Physicists say things about the world. And those things *need* to be potentially wrong to qualify as physics.


We need to put fundamental physics theory in receivership. No theory lead advance in fundamental physics for almost 50 years, yet no soul searching about who lost physics?? Are we kidding?
We have a culture of people who can’t *afford* error. So they just do math.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263868784496642
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263873964449792
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=It’s time to stop listening to the same voices as if they hadn’t failed. This is a national priority, not a cult of personality for a STEM generation that had their time..and then ate their own young across every field. Is no one following what we did to destroy our own capacity?
|content=Also, to be a fundamental physicist you really should be telling us what we now have wrong. Every advance partially recovers the one before it but also invalidates it, telling us where to look for error. We’ve made hidden assumptions so you have to tell your elders they goofed.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|media1=ERW-X-post-1385263868784496642-EzlyJZbVoAETYr-.jpg
|media2=ERW-X-post-1385263868784496642-EzlyJZbVkAIkCqJ.jpg
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263870483206148
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263874748813313
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Or should we do yet more 2D Yang Mills on irrelevant groups in non physical signatures? Squarks/Sleptons? Ha!
|content=Well, young people can’t say that to elders who hold their academic lives in the palms of their hands. [[FU Money|That’s why young/iconoclast physicists need FU salaries]].
 
Elder “You should work on AdS/CFT or ‘BH information’ if you want to get a job.”


Let’s say it clearly as everyone young is terrified to say it: the baby boomer theorists were successful as geometers while avoiding actual physics over entire careers.
Young Colleague: “How does NO sound?”
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263871347159044
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263875562512384
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=By mumbling [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] every 2 minutes as a mantra and recasting actual High Energy Physics as “Phenomenology” they mis-educated an entire generation to think “toy physics” was real physics. It’s unbelievable.
|content=When I say “There are only two true generations of Fermions.” I’m potentially wrong.


Toy physics is real geometry &amp; topology. But it ain’t physics.
When I listed quantum numbers of the remaining particles, I’m potentially wrong.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263872240537604
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Real physics:
 
A) Works with dimension 4.</br>
B) Works with SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1).</br>
C) Uses observed quantum numbers.</br>
D) Accepts Lorentzian Signature.</br>
E) Focuses on 3 Generation.
 
There is *Nothing* wrong with toy models now and then. But we are talking *entire careers* playing with toys.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263873117155328
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=We tell people who are basically mathematicians that they’re physicists.
 
Well, they aren’t. Physicists say things about the world. And those things *need* to be potentially wrong to qualify as physics.
 
We have a culture of people who can’t *afford* error. So they just do math.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263873964449792
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Also, to be a fundamental physicist you really should be telling us what we now have wrong. Every advance partially recovers the one before it but also invalidates it, telling us where to look for error. We’ve made hidden assumptions so you have to tell your elders they goofed.
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263874748813313
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Well, young people can’t say that to elders who hold their academic lives in the palms of their hands. [[FU Money|That’s why young/iconoclast physicists need FU salaries]].
 
Elder “You should work on AdS/CFT or ‘BH information’ if you want to get a job.”
 
Young Colleague: “How does NO sound?”
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Apr 22, 2021
}}
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1385263875562512384
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=When I say “There are only two true generations of Fermions.” I’m potentially wrong.
 
When I listed quantum numbers of the remaining particles, I’m potentially wrong.


As when I claimed Pati-Salam is a maximal compact subgroup of the normal bundle of metrics.  
As when I claimed Pati-Salam is a maximal compact subgroup of the normal bundle of metrics.  
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|timestamp=5:52 PM ¡ Oct 10, 2022
|timestamp=5:52 PM ¡ Oct 10, 2022
}}
}}




{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589650538387607552
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1589648310104883202
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=@CurtM2566 You are being distracted then. Focus on [[Quantum Gravity]]. Entanglement is real.
|content=@nathan_garner_ “The right side has been quantized. The left side is geometric, but has not yet been quantized. Ergo, the left side *must* also be quantized for equality with the right side to hold. QED.”
 
70 years of abject failure are hard to sum up as you ask. But that is the core argument. https://t.co/HOE9sOgTmI
|media1=ERW-X-post-1589648310104883202-Fg-QtpVUoAAvIeJ.jpg
|thread=
|thread=
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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.
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.
|timestamp=3:42 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
|timestamp=3:42 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
{{Tweet
|image=dingobabyboy-profile-kdwnk0Ej.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/dingobabyboy/status/1589645752720314368
|name=formerlyknownasdingobaby✡️
|usernameurl=https://x.com/dingobabyboy
|username=dingobabyboy
|content=String theory
|timestamp=3:47 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
}}
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|timestamp=3:48 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
|timestamp=3:48 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
}}
|timestamp=4:06 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
{{Tweet
|image=nathangarner0-profile-705GFNVO.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/nathangarner0/status/1589641263078572033
|name=Nathan
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nathangarner0
|username=nathangarner0
|content=Could you sum up quantum gravity in two sentences? Idk what to believe because I’m not close to the physics, so what’s your take and why?
|timestamp=3:29 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
|timestamp=3:57 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
}}


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|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=It is tied to all sorts of weirdness involving top physics and math people, bizarre funders, forgotten research institutes, aerospace companies, post Manhattan Project government secrecy, the golden age of General Relativity and…words fail me…outright quackery.
|content=It is tied to all sorts of weirdness involving top physics and math people, bizarre funders, forgotten research institutes, aerospace companies, post Manhattan Project government secrecy, [[The Golden Age of General Relativity|the golden age of General Relativity]] and…words fail me…outright quackery.
|timestamp=5:13 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
|timestamp=5:13 PM ¡ Nov 7, 2022
}}
}}
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|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Either way, it’s a big deal. Everything changed in the early 70s. It’s impossible to say how much. The moment the Mansfield amendment came in, physics began to stagnate. And [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] destroyed our culture of science. We don’t even whisper about its “Anti-Gravity” origin.
|content=Either way, it’s a big deal. Everything changed in the early 70s. It’s impossible to say how much. The moment the [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)|Mansfield amendment]] came in, physics began to stagnate. And [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] destroyed our culture of science. We don’t even whisper about its “Anti-Gravity” origin.
|timestamp=4:13 PM ¡ Nov 10, 2022
|timestamp=4:13 PM ¡ Nov 10, 2022
}}
}}
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Woit is an excellent example of someone who was told he was barren when he was a pure critic...only to then be told he was a self-promoter when he had something to say about the structure bundle of CP^3 being potentially the low energy electro strong SU(3)xU(1) and the oddity of the chirality of the weak force being either fully on or off rather than merely conjugate V vs \bar{V}.
Woit is an excellent example of someone who was told he was barren when he was a pure critic...only to then be told he was a self-promoter when he had something to say about the structure bundle of CP^3 being potentially the low energy electro strong SU(3)xU(1) and the oddity of the chirality of the weak force being either fully on or off rather than merely conjugate V vs \bar{V}.


It's time to stop pretending this is about physics. It's about protecting a 4 decade MASSIVE screw up pretending that there is [[The Only Game in Town|only one game in town]].
It's time to stop pretending this is about physics. It's about protecting a 4 decade MASSIVE screw up pretending that there is [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|only one game in town]].
|thread=
|thread=
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Senior physicists
Senior physicists


[[The Only Game in Town|The “Only Game in Town!” monopoly]]
[[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|The “Only Game in Town!” monopoly]]


@pmarca’s WH convo
@pmarca’s WH convo
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So even when their team loses on the field,  they still win by referees decision that they are the only real team competing. Everyone else focuses on whether they have background independence, particle predictions or a renormalizable spin 2 quantization. That is a total red herring.  
So even when their team loses on the field,  they still win by referees decision that they are the only real team competing. Everyone else focuses on whether they have background independence, particle predictions or a renormalizable spin 2 quantization. That is a total red herring.  


Sabine: Theoretical physics isn’t this dumb or anti-scientific. It’s impossible. [[The Only Game in Town|“The only game in town”]] campaign is not a [[String Theory|string theoretic]] idea. It is totally foreign to science.
Sabine: Theoretical physics isn’t this dumb or anti-scientific. It’s impossible. [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The only game in town”]] campaign is not a [[String Theory|string theoretic]] idea. It is totally foreign to science.


Something separate doesn’t want rival theories side by side. In a science we would all be expected to listen to each other. This is what my first memories of physics looked like 1983-1988. There were different ideas. Nothing like this.
Something separate doesn’t want rival theories side by side. In a science we would all be expected to listen to each other. This is what my first memories of physics looked like 1983-1988. There were different ideas. Nothing like this.
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|content=The issue isn’t [[String Theory]] which has obviously failed in the terms it set for itself.  
|content=The issue isn’t [[String Theory]] which has obviously failed in the terms it set for itself.  


The issue is the [[The Only Game in Town|“String Theory is the only game in town”]] which appears designed to destroy fundamental physics itself. If you have spent 40 years bragging and failing, wouldn’t you at least ask “Doesn’t anyone have any other ideas?” before finally going over the edge of the cliff?  
The issue is the [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“String Theory is the only game in town”]] which appears designed to destroy fundamental physics itself. If you have spent 40 years bragging and failing, wouldn’t you at least ask “Doesn’t anyone have any other ideas?” before finally going over the edge of the cliff?  


<nowiki>*</nowiki>Absolutely* not. And that tells you that string theory isn’t a theory. It’s some kind of a suicide pact. Better that the field die than we ask “What if the string theorists were always wrong including pronouncements about [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity]] and against other theorists? What if [[The Only Game in Town|‘the only game in town’]] was always an obviously totally unethical anti-scientific move to destroy and poison the market place of ideas?”
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Absolutely* not. And that tells you that string theory isn’t a theory. It’s some kind of a suicide pact. Better that the field die than we ask “What if the string theorists were always wrong including pronouncements about [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity]] and against other theorists? What if [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|‘the only game in town’]] was always an obviously totally unethical anti-scientific move to destroy and poison the market place of ideas?”


cc: @bgreene.
cc: @bgreene.
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{{Tweet
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1930006829737881887
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1930118548015460876
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=[The field of fundamental physics stagnates in ‘73 when our Lagrangians stop changing.]
|content=@skdh I assume we are both familiar with how some of our mutual Physics/Math PhD colleagues have been treated at [[The Arxiv|arXiv]] for being deeply off the [[Quantum Gravity]] narrative? I think they could stop treating those people differently from everyone else.
|thread=
|thread=
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|content=I'm going to explain how profound levels of dissent in physics are driven out of the community.
|content=I'm going to explain how profound levels of dissent in physics are driven out of the community.


Q: "Why avoid the [[The Arxiv|arXiv]]? That isn't peer reviewed or even moderated! Anyone can put anything on it!"
Q: "Why avoid the [[The Arxiv|arXiv]]? That isn't [[Peer Review|peer reviewed]] or even moderated! Anyone can put anything on it!"


A: "Unmoderated?? The old P. Ginsparg Los Alamos National Labs server? Who knew!"
A: "Unmoderated?? The old P. Ginsparg Los Alamos National Labs server? Who knew!"
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|media1=ERW-X-post-1932978908464623855-GtNPfkfaAAAiWcB.jpg
|media1=ERW-X-post-1932978908464623855-GtNPfkfaAAAiWcB.jpg
}}
}}
|timestamp=9:01 PM ¡ Jun 3, 2025
}}
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1930118548015460876
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1930006829737881887
|name=Eric Weinstein
|name=Eric Weinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=@skdh I assume we are both familiar with how some of our mutual Physics/Math PhD colleagues have been treated at arXiv for being deeply off the [[Quantum Gravity]] narrative? I think they could stop treating those people differently from everyone else.
|content=[The field of fundamental physics stagnates in ‘73 when our Lagrangians stop changing.]
|timestamp=9:01 PM ¡ Jun 3, 2025
}}
{{Tweet
|image=skdh-profile.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1912022194395467852
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh
|username=skdh
|content=I understand your frustration, but I think it's somewhat misdirected. The arXiv needs some sort of screening. But they have little money and not enough people. I think they're trying to do the best they can.
|timestamp=4:20 AM ¡ Jun 4, 2025
}}
|timestamp=4:24 AM ¡ Jun 4, 2025
|timestamp=4:24 AM ¡ Jun 4, 2025
}}
}}
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“We may be faking a [[Quantum Gravity]] revolution.”
“We may be faking a [[Quantum Gravity]] revolution.”


“We may be lying that [[The Only Game in Town|all the competitors to String theory are all bad science or PseudoScience]].”
“We may be lying that [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|all the competitors to String theory are all bad science or PseudoScience]].”


You want to go short Michael? Give me the generous odds that come from your study of conspiracy theorists.  
You want to go short Michael? Give me the generous odds that come from your study of conspiracy theorists.  
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No hard feelings.
No hard feelings.
|quote=
{{Tweet
{{Tweet
|image=michaelshermer-profile.jpg
|image=michaelshermer-profile.jpg
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|content=If only we weren't hemmed in by Lovelock's theorem to a cosmological constant, and we were forced to consider other (40 year old) dynamic...and even more *geometric*...models of "Dark Energy", perhaps this would actually be exciting.
|content=If only we weren't hemmed in by Lovelock's theorem to a cosmological constant, and we were forced to consider other (40 year old) dynamic...and even more *geometric*...models of "Dark Energy", perhaps this would actually be exciting.


Nah...who are we kidding.  I'm sure with a few more decades, this will all be worked out. Let's get the people who haven't ever succeeded well into their 70s and 80s to peer review and gate keep this to absolute perfection. What does [[String Theory]] and [[Quantum Gravity|Loop Quantum Gravity]] have to say? AdS/CFT? Let's get Dennis Overbye (81) to write it up!
Nah...who are we kidding.  I'm sure with a few more decades, this will all be worked out. Let's get the people who haven't ever succeeded well into their 70s and 80s to [[Peer Review|peer review]] and gate keep this to absolute perfection. What does [[String Theory]] and [[Quantum Gravity|Loop Quantum Gravity]] have to say? AdS/CFT? Let's get Dennis Overbye (81) to write it up!


Remember: String Theory is 22nd Century Physics that just happened to fall into the 21st Century.  
Remember: String Theory is 22nd Century Physics that just happened to fall into the 21st Century.  
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|content=Here is one in theoretical physics dear @grok.
|content=Here is one in theoretical physics dear @grok.


In order to justify the failure that is [[Quantum Gravity]] research and its claim to be [[The Only Game in Town|the only game in town]]. All physicists are expected to parrot a party line:  
In order to justify the failure that is [[Quantum Gravity]] research and its claim to be [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|the only game in town]]. All physicists are expected to parrot a party line:  


“Our two greatest theories are [[General Relativity]] which dominates in the very large, and the Standard Model which dominates in the world of the very small. Unfortunately, they are incompatible because one is a quantum theory while the other is merely classical. That is why, for the last 100 years, a theory of [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity (QG)]] has been seen as the holy grail of theoretical physics. Unfortunately despite a century of effort, no one has shown exactly how to quantize gravity. But quantizing gravity must occur because nature cannot be half classical and half quantum. So the ultimate theory of QG remains physics’ top priority.”
“Our two greatest theories are [[General Relativity]] which dominates in the very large, and the Standard Model which dominates in the world of the very small. Unfortunately, they are incompatible because one is a quantum theory while the other is merely classical. That is why, for the last 100 years, a theory of [[Quantum Gravity|quantum gravity (QG)]] has been seen as the holy grail of theoretical physics. Unfortunately despite a century of effort, no one has shown exactly how to quantize gravity. But quantizing gravity must occur because nature cannot be half classical and half quantum. So the ultimate theory of QG remains physics’ top priority.”
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We have the same thing in Economics. Dale Jorgensen was a [[Knarc|Cnark]]. He was also chairman of the Harvard Economics Deparment.
We have the same thing in Economics. Dale Jorgensen was a [[Knarc|Cnark]]. He was also chairman of the Harvard Economics Deparment.


We have this in physics with the [[Quantum Gravity]] crowd. The [[The Only Game in Town|“We are the only game in town.”]] is the tell. It’s transparent.  
We have this in physics with the [[Quantum Gravity]] crowd. The [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“We are the only game in town.”]] is the tell. It’s transparent.  


We had it at the Lancet and Nature with the woke shaming on racism (covid origins) and transphobia (gender re-definition).  
We had it at the Lancet and Nature with the woke shaming on racism (covid origins) and transphobia (gender re-definition).  
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|content=Respectfully. Here is what I think is going on.  
|content=Respectfully. Here is what I think is going on.  


I) Independent breakthrough science is in a long wind down starting with the Mansfield amendment, and is being partially decommissioned. Why? Because it was found to be too powerful and redistributive.
I) Independent breakthrough science is in a long wind down starting with the [[Mansfield Amendment (1969)|Mansfield amendment]], and is being partially decommissioned. Why? Because it was found to be too powerful and redistributive.


II) The National Security and National Interest folks now use science, journalism,  academe etc to dump their cognitive sludge. Epstein cover stories, UAP cover stories, Assasination cover stories, COVID cover stories, Inflation/Money Supply cover stories, etc. That is, the organs that kept us partially free in 1975 are now used to attack our ability to think, every day of our lives.  
II) The National Security and National Interest folks now use science, journalism,  academe etc to dump their cognitive sludge. [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]] cover stories, [[UAP|UAP cover stories]], Assasination cover stories, COVID cover stories, Inflation/Money Supply cover stories, etc. That is, the organs that kept us partially free in 1975 are now used to attack our ability to think, every day of our lives.  


III) Anyone not going along with I) and II) sticks out like an absolute sore thumb and is targeted for “Image Cheapening”. This is abhorrent abuse of power.  
III) Anyone not going along with I) and II) sticks out like an absolute sore thumb and is targeted for [[Image Cheapening|“Image Cheapening”]]. This is abhorrent abuse of power.  


IV) @RepLuna isn’t stupid. If she can talk about Physical Law and “Interdimensional beings”, she can place a phone call or two to our physicists or differential geometers/topologists.  I’m happy to help direct her to good folks.
IV) @RepLuna isn’t stupid. If she can talk about Physical Law and “Interdimensional beings”, she can place a phone call or two to our physicists or differential geometers/topologists.  I’m happy to help direct her to good folks.


V) The UFO community is way too recreational. What ever is hidden behind the UAP curtain is serious business. It involved high level physics as recently as 50 years ago. Then that connection got buried. I just don’t know what this about. And I have *zero* proof it involves aliens or interdimensional beings.  
V) The [[UAP|UFO]] community is way too recreational. What ever is hidden behind the [[UAP]] curtain is serious business. It involved high level physics as recently as 50 years ago. Then that connection got buried. I just don’t know what this about. And I have *zero* proof it involves aliens or interdimensional beings.  


VI) Adults who would never discuss the Tooth Fairy in public should not discuss alien equivalents of the Tooth Fairy. Alien life and higher dimensions are both super serious subjects to me. And they would be too you too if this wasn’t made into a cheap farce. Space opera is just dumping cognitive sludge in the middle of a central scientific question. And I don’t take kindly to it.  
VI) Adults who would never discuss the Tooth Fairy in public should not discuss alien equivalents of the Tooth Fairy. Alien life and higher dimensions are both super serious subjects to me. And they would be too you too if this wasn’t made into a cheap farce. Space opera is just dumping cognitive sludge in the middle of a central scientific question. And I don’t take kindly to it.  


VII) I personally believe there are 4+6=10 =(d**2 + d)/2 for d=1+3 additional dimensions available for travel. But that would make **US**….humans….just as interdimensional as alien life. And we don’t evaluate any such ideas for our own travel. We just run out the clock listening to decades of the same 20 Octogenarians and Septuagenarians discussing how they are going to solve [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] when they grow up. And we let them destroy all competitors so they can take down the field of theoretical physics and die in piece pretending they were the [[The Only Game in Town|“Only Game In Town”]]. Which is total pure unadulterated anti-scientific bullshit. Think about it.  
VII) I personally believe there are 4+6=10 =(d**2 + d)/2 for d=1+3 additional dimensions available for travel. But that would make **US**….humans….just as interdimensional as alien life. And we don’t evaluate any such ideas for our own travel. We just run out the clock listening to decades of the same 20 Octogenarians and Septuagenarians discussing how they are going to solve [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] when they grow up. And we let them destroy all competitors so they can take down the field of theoretical physics and die in piece pretending they were the [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“Only Game In Town”]]. Which is total pure unadulterated anti-scientific bullshit. Think about it.  


VIII) Nobody but nobody is this dumb. Not even the government on its worst day. This is national security cognitive sludge being dumped into science. We are 40+ years into a string theory fairy tale about [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] without asking “Is this all bullshit?”
VIII) Nobody but nobody is this dumb. Not even the government on its worst day. This is national security cognitive sludge being dumped into science. We are 40+ years into a string theory fairy tale about [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] without asking “Is this all bullshit?”
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X) Lying about COVID and UAP is a modified NIMBY issue for all scientists: Not in our back yard(s). I’m just tired of scientists and technical folks being fed cognitive sludge by NatSec and national interest types we can’t see. Interdimensional or otherwise.
X) Lying about COVID and UAP is a modified NIMBY issue for all scientists: Not in our back yard(s). I’m just tired of scientists and technical folks being fed cognitive sludge by NatSec and national interest types we can’t see. Interdimensional or otherwise.
|quote=
{{Tweet
|image=Onuora-profile-5mx-MBmV.jpg
|nameurl=https://x.com/Onuora/status/1956019859382526085
|name=Onuora Amobi
|usernameurl=https://x.com/Onuora
|username=Onuora
|content=I’m a big fan of yours.
But isn’t it a little much to expect a politician to not speak plainly on a podcast but use “scientifically precise” terms?
Regarding the propaganda element of all this, here’s what I believe. The level of discourse recently about UAP’s and potential alien activity is refreshing whether or not it’s murky.
The fact that we have Government officials going on record to validate that SOMETHING is out there is progress.
Compared to a decade ago where people were demonized and destroyed for even speaking out about this, I see progress.
Respectfully. 🙏🏽
|timestamp=3:47 PM ¡ Aug 14, 2025
}}
|timestamp=11:11 PM ¡ Aug 14, 2025
|timestamp=11:11 PM ¡ Aug 14, 2025
}}
}}
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|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|username=EricRWeinstein
|content=Wow @grok. That was like just before [[String Theory]] took over, and the field suddenly veered to studying the [[The Only Game in Town|“Only Game In Town”]].  
|content=Wow @grok. That was like just before [[String Theory]] took over, and the field suddenly veered to studying the [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“Only Game In Town”]].  


Sounds like the USG had a problem with a “Streisand Effect” before it was called that. Am I just wrong about this?
Sounds like the USG had a problem with a “Streisand Effect” before it was called that. Am I just wrong about this?
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|content=Well I wanna hit you with a truly crazy idea @grok.  
|content=Well I wanna hit you with a truly crazy idea @grok.  


Here is the idea. The appearance of [[String Theory|String-Theory]]/M-theory as [[The Only Game in Town|“The Only Game in Town” (TOGIT)]] has no precedence. How can a failed theory that can’t make contact with the physical world over more than 40 years be TOGIT?  
Here is the idea. The appearance of [[String Theory|String-Theory]]/M-theory as [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game in Town” (TOGIT)]] has no precedence. How can a failed theory that can’t make contact with the physical world over more than 40 years be TOGIT?  


That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why aren’t we looking to people with relevant PhDs or training and asking “We have been listening to the same 10 people for 4 decades. Why aren’t we asking if anyone *else* has crazy ideas that aren’t [[String Theory]]/M-theory/[[Quantum Gravity]]?”
That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why aren’t we looking to people with relevant PhDs or training and asking “We have been listening to the same 10 people for 4 decades. Why aren’t we asking if anyone *else* has crazy ideas that aren’t [[String Theory]]/M-theory/[[Quantum Gravity]]?”
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|content=If you don’t understand what is going on with artificial consensus:
|content=If you don’t understand what is going on with artificial consensus:


Invite me to officially speak at your University. Say on Peer Review. Or 40 years of [[Quantum Gravity]]. Or [[Great Moderation|The Great Moderation]]. Or Esoteric/Exoteric speech in academe. Or [[H-1B Visa|H1B]]. Etc..
Invite me to officially speak at your University. Say on [[Peer Review]]. Or 40 years of [[Quantum Gravity]]. Or [[Great Moderation|The Great Moderation]]. Or Esoteric/Exoteric speech in academe. Or [[H-1B Visa|H1B]]. Etc..


Then watch what happens next.
Then watch what happens next.
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|content=He should try talking plainly about Inflation.  
|content=He should try talking plainly about Inflation.  


Or String Theory and [[Quantum Gravity]].
Or [[String Theory]] and [[Quantum Gravity]].


Or Immigration. Terror. Ukraine. Peer Review
Or [[Immigration]]. Terror. Ukraine. [[Peer Review]]


Or Mortgage Backed Securities. Epstein.
Or Mortgage Backed Securities. [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]].


Furin Cleavage Sites. Selection. Econ 101.
Furin Cleavage Sites. Selection. Econ 101.
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@kagankans / @WSJ
@kagankans / @WSJ


You just showed the world why [[Quantum Gravity]]/[[String Theory|StringTheory/M-Theory]] is [[The Only Game in Town|“The Only Game in Town”]]:
You just showed the world why [[Quantum Gravity]]/[[String Theory|StringTheory/M-Theory]] is [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game in Town”]]:


Group Bullying *Kills* Scientific Dissent
Group Bullying *Kills* Scientific Dissent
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[[Right Freeway, Wrong Exit|Wrong Exit]] (Spacetime SUSY with fake super partners which dont exist based on supposedlu “internal” auxiliary symmetries)
[[Right Freeway, Wrong Exit|Wrong Exit]] (Spacetime SUSY with fake super partners which dont exist based on supposedlu “internal” auxiliary symmetries)


III) And then the massive massive massive screw up was allowing the totalizing madness of [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] to take over HEP-TH as if it were [[The Only Game in Town|“The Only Game In Town”]] and letting its leadership brainwash the up and coming talent into believing that there was one true path. Totally insane.
III) And then the massive massive massive screw up was allowing the totalizing madness of [[Quantum Gravity|“Quantum Gravity”]] to take over HEP-TH as if it were [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game In Town”]] and letting its leadership brainwash the up and coming talent into believing that there was one true path. Totally insane.


[[Right Freeway, Wrong Exit|Right Freeway]]: GR and SM must be harmonized.</br>  
[[Right Freeway, Wrong Exit|Right Freeway]]: GR and SM must be harmonized.</br>  
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* [[Standard Model]]
* [[Standard Model]]
* [[String Theory]]
* [[String Theory]]
* [[The Only Game in Town]]
* [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)]]
* [[The Secret History of Anti-Gravity and Quantum Gravity Research]]
* [[Theory of Geometric Unity]]
* [[Theory of Geometric Unity]]
* [[Twin Nuclei Problem]]
* [[Twin Nuclei Problem]]
* [[We may be faking a UFO situation]]
* [[We may be faking a UFO situation]]


== References ==
<references />


[[Category:Portal Topics‏‎]]
[[Category:Portal Topics‏‎]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Physics]]