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Ed Witten: Difference between revisions
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== On X == | |||
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|content=2/ The Quantum (e.g. quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, quantum measurement, etc...) is relegated to a *secondary* status below the key geometric insights. This was likely done very subtly when the paper was given in the 1980s, as it was, and remains, a revolutionary idea. | |content=2/ The Quantum (e.g. quantum mechanics, [[Quantum Field Theory|quantum field theory]], quantum measurement, etc...) is relegated to a *secondary* status below the key geometric insights. This was likely done very subtly when the paper was given in the 1980s, as it was, and remains, a revolutionary idea. | ||
|timestamp=5:43 PM · Nov 8, 2017 | |timestamp=5:43 PM · Nov 8, 2017 | ||
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|content=One of the world’s greatest men has died. Most of you will have no idea who this is. I just don’t know how to bridge that gap yet to tell you what he did. | |content=One of the world’s greatest men has died. Most of you will have no idea who this is. I just don’t know how to bridge that gap yet to tell you what he did. | ||
I was very close with his top collaborator. They were the Watson and Crick of mathematics to me. They rewrote my whole life. | I was very close with his top collaborator. They were the [[Jim Watson|Watson]] and [[Francis Crick|Crick]] of mathematics to me. They rewrote my whole life. | ||
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|content=He helped direct [[Ed Witten]] and Graeme Segal to truly tell us what Quantum Field Theory really was beyond being a physical theory. These men took a grab bag of techniques developed for calculation and showed us that they were a mellifluous whole of geometry, topology and physics. | |content=He helped direct [[Ed Witten]] and Graeme Segal to truly tell us what [[Quantum Field Theory]] really was beyond being a physical theory. These men took a grab bag of techniques developed for calculation and showed us that they were a mellifluous whole of geometry, topology and physics. | ||
|timestamp=5:03 PM · Jan 12, 2019 | |timestamp=5:03 PM · Jan 12, 2019 | ||
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|content=It’s not physics exactly. But Edward Witten w support from a small number of folks rewrote [[Quantum Field Theory]] as geometry. If Einstein geometrized gravity, then [[Ed Witten|Witten]] geometrized Quantum Field theory (everything else). | |content=It’s not physics exactly. But [[Ed Witten|Edward Witten]] w support from a small number of folks rewrote [[Quantum Field Theory]] as geometry. If [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]] geometrized gravity, then [[Ed Witten|Witten]] geometrized [[Quantum Field Theory|Quantum Field theory]] (everything else). | ||
Now, all that change has so far unlocked exactly nothing. | Now, all that change has so far unlocked exactly nothing. | ||
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|content=If CCP could today repeat what Witten (& friends) did building off Geometric Quantum Field Thy, the US would have Zero clue what it unlocks. Even by your own incrementalist theory. It might unlock absolutely nothing. Or passage to the stars via additional degrees of freedom. 🤷♂️ | |content=If CCP could today repeat what Witten (& friends) did building off [[Quantum Field Theory|Geometric Quantum Field Thy]], the US would have Zero clue what it unlocks. Even by your own incrementalist theory. It might unlock absolutely nothing. Or passage to the stars via additional degrees of freedom. 🤷♂️ | ||
|timestamp=5:40 PM · Jun 13, 2021 | |timestamp=5:40 PM · Jun 13, 2021 | ||
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|content=Said differently I’ve been bullish on positive externalities of mathematical physics. But a lot of great math that got done isn’t string theory. It’s claimed to be stringy but it is really mostly mathematical physics or geometric field theory that is claimed by string theorists. | |content=Said differently I’ve been bullish on positive externalities of mathematical physics. But a lot of great math that got done isn’t [[String Theory|string theory]]. It’s claimed to be stringy but it is really mostly mathematical physics or geometric field theory that is claimed by string theorists. | ||
|thread= | |thread= | ||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1473817405809778689 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=Things got hard. They didn’t get hopeless. | ||
Yes we spent almost 40 years lying about [[String Theory|string theory]]. But we could stop today. We could have the leaders in the field admit they made a *colossal* bad bet & ask “What did we dispose of while we were wildly over-hyping [[String Theory|string theory]]?” | |||
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|name=🇺🇲TradeTexasBig🇮🇳 | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/TradeTexasBig | |||
|username=TradeTexasBig | |||
|content=Its increasingly apparent to me that the next physics breakthrough is gonna be from #ai . Its humanly not possible anymore for theoretical physicists ..i was feeling it even around 2010 | |||
|timestamp=12:17 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
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|timestamp=12:47 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1473872481735827459 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=They can't stop, Eric. They're making a living from writing papers about things no one will ever see. It's a systemic problem that requires a systemic response. And the first step would be to admit they have a problem (which they don't). | |||
|timestamp=4:25 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
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|content=Seems likely a lot of the math they developed will wind up handy, but it's a long time to wait for dessert. | |||
|timestamp=4:30 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1473874437523005443 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=Most of what physicists call math is totally uninteresting even for mathematicians. It's just advanced calculus. Look here is my qft and when I crunch it cross-sections fall out. | |||
|timestamp=4:33 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
}} | }} | ||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1474213317568651264 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=We may disagree intellectually more than I thought. This is Jackiw’s point: the era of physics thinking of mathematics as advanced calculus (analysis) wasn’t fruitful. | ||
That changed around 1975 when the quantum began to discover geometry. | |||
I’m honestly confused. What do you mean? | |||
|timestamp=3:00 AM · Dec 24, 2021 | |||
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|image= | |image=skdh-profile.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1474247291687088134 | ||
|name= | |name=Sabine Hossenfelder | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/ | |usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | ||
|username= | |username=skdh | ||
|content= | |content=We are talking past each other. I am referring to particle physicists/astrophysicists/cosmologists who crunch out shallow and useless papers in the thousands. There's no interesting math in those. You're talking about something else entirely. | ||
|timestamp=5:15 AM · Dec 23, 2021 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1474261469462073344 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=[[Quantum Field Theory|QFT]] & cross-sections sound more like particle theory than Astrophysics, Cosmology or even [[General Relativity|GR]]. | ||
[[ | Would we agree that the collision of [[Ed Witten|Witten]]/[[Isadore Singer|Singer]]/Quillen/[[Nathan “Nati” Seiberg|Seiberg]]/Freed/Bismut/Maldacena/Penrose/[[Michael Atiyah|Atiyah]]/ | ||
Hitchin/Dijgraff/[[Cumrun Vafa|Vafa]]/Segal/Jackiw/Kontseivich/Alvarez-Gaume/etc has been magic? | |||
|timestamp=6:11 AM · Dec 24, 2021 | |||
|timestamp= | |||
}} | }} | ||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1474261875328098308 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=There are a lot of string theorists who have done things that really matter to geometry, topology, analysis on manifolds, representation theory. And I don’t want to misunderstand your point. | ||
|timestamp= | |timestamp=6:13 AM · Dec 24, 2021 | ||
}} | }} | ||
|timestamp=6:16 AM · Dec 24, 2021 | |||
|timestamp= | |||
}} | }} | ||
=== 2022 === | |||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562132802279075840 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=@martinmbauer [[Nathan “Nati” Seiberg|Seiberg]]/[[Ed Witten|Witten]]/Dijkgraaf/Maldacena | ||
| | |||
All string folks. | |||
Maybe get a [[String Theory|string theorist]] to admit this to you. [[Brian Greene]] likely wouldn’t disagree with me. | |||
|thread= | |||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562112981185441792 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=It really depends. Being totally honest: | ||
|timestamp=4: | |||
[[String Theory|“String Theory”]] has done a *tremendous* amount of good while “String Maximalism” has done even more harm. | |||
If the [[String Theory|String Theorists]] who led the movement were to undo some of the damage by admitting what happened, it’d be a major positive. | |||
https://x.com/JMarkMcEntire/status/1562089447189086209 | |||
|timestamp=4:22 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562113698717528066 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=Here is where I respectfully disagree with my colleague @skdh. You can’t ‘get rid of [[String Theory|string theory]]’. String-like objects are natural and have an unbelievably rich and beautiful interlocking mathematics. The beguiling beauty isn’t the problem in my opinion. Beauty is the excuse. | ||
|timestamp=4: | |timestamp=4:25 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | ||
}} | }} | ||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562114833561964545 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=The problem is that string theory on its own has taken the last 40years to PROVE it doesn’t work as a stand alone path by gobbling up mind share, students, resources and (to be fair) most of the most brilliant brains. So much that no one dares say the full extent of the disaster. | ||
|timestamp=4:29 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
|timestamp=4: | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562115994822225921 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=During that time [[String Theory]] diverted the entire field into a magical never-land of “toy physics”. Models that aren’t in any way real. You now have “particle physicists” at the end of their careers who have never worked with anything like a particle and can’t remember them. | ||
|timestamp=4: | |timestamp=4:34 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562118340256022528 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=So, here’s my analysis. In a world where [[David Gross]], [[Ed Witten]], [[Lenny Susskind]], [[Cumrun Vafa]], [[Michio Kaku]] had a public Come To Jesus moment where they admitted the disaster in front of the community faithful, I’d be up for having [[String Theory|ST]] as a major theory. But without that I’m unsure. | ||
|timestamp=4:43 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
|timestamp=4: | |||
}} | }} | ||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562118341854081024 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content=@ | |content=The damage to the culture of High Energy Physics is more severe than the damage done by Geoffery Chew in a different era. And here I support @skdh, [[Peter Woit]], [[Lee Smolin]] etc. These are brave people who paid with abuse to communicate that physics was diverting into pure fantasy. | ||
|timestamp= | |timestamp=4:43 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | ||
}} | }} | ||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562120564939952130 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=So to sum up: | ||
|timestamp= | |||
[[String Theory]] deserves to be a major branch. But it has already mostly given up on the ‘80s promises/lies it told us to gobble up all the resources of the community (brains, mind share, $$$). That was a crime which may prove fatal to our being able to do physics. | |||
|timestamp=4:52 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562121223189893121 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=But it is also so thoroughly investigated and badly behaved relative to scientific norms that it deserved to be shrunk. And that happened to a large extent already. The most important thing to realize is that physics is still about the physical world. Not Calabi Yau. Not AdS/CFT. | ||
|timestamp= | |timestamp=4:54 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | ||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562121896828608513 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=And we need our brilliant failed string theorists to admit the disaster within a scientific paradigm. | ||
Science is a culture. Perhaps the most fragile one. It won’t survive this suspension of collegiality, decency and self-critical behavior. We need to go back to real physics. 🙏 | |||
|timestamp=4:57 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
|timestamp= | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562124046128492545 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=@martinmbauer [[String Theory|String theory]] was a giant percentage of a tiny priesthood. That was the same tiny priesthood that brought us Thermo Nuclear devices. And if you want to pay for me to research the numbers I’m willing to hire somebody to put together the data after 1984. It’s not usually contested. | ||
|timestamp=5:06 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
|timestamp= | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562125170600341509 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=@DontsitDJ @martinmbauer I wasn’t aware of it like that. I think he disagrees with me and has a bit of an edge. But maybe I missed a tweet or two. I haven’t seen much interaction and he has written some things I liked. | ||
|timestamp=5:10 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562125539619454976 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=@DontsitDJ @martinmbauer I love a good critique. It’s hard to find. Most people out here develop a side hustle in interpersonal drama. I try not to. | |||
|timestamp=5:12 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1562132136596889600 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=@martinmbauer I don’t know which version of “The Field” you mean. | |||
Physics in total? Is a large field. | |||
Beyond the [[Standard Model|standard model theory]]? Is a small field. Tiny. But hugely consequential. And the percentage and effect wasn’t small. Do you really dispute this??? Look at the IAS professors. | |||
|timestamp=5:38 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=5:40 PM · Aug 23, 2022 | |||
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=== 2023 === | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1630656077414158336 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Witten is amazing. | |||
|thread= | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1630327252004241408 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Thank you. Really appreciate this. | |||
Trying to figure out if people want to go deeper into the physics history (e.g. the mixed blessing of Wilsonian Renormalization). | |||
But I got a lot of feedback: The constructive comments on this thread were super helpful to me. Thanks all! 🙏 | |||
|quote= | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/VaulterVS/status/1629525710095233028 | |||
|name=Vault Security 🍃 | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/VaulterVS | |||
|username=VaulterVS | |||
|content=Hands down the best JRE Episode. This is one of the most inspiring interviews I've seen in some time. So many great points articulated in ways that are beyond my own ability by Eric Weinstein so it is not a shame to say I had to google some stuff. 😉 | |||
|timestamp=10:01 PM · Feb 27, 2023 | |||
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|timestamp=10:01 PM · Feb 27, 2023 | |||
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|nameurl=https://x.com/michaelvaclav/status/1630655127542439945 | |||
|name=Michael Vaclav | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/michaelvaclav | |||
|username=michaelvaclav | |||
|content=I ended up watching about 3hrs of Edward Witten. So many fun threads to chase down. | |||
|timestamp=7:44 PM · Feb 28, 2023 | |||
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|timestamp=7:47 PM · Feb 28, 2023 | |||
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|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1682982386936565762 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=So you have my list. It is incomplete and idiosyncratic. I’d love to have your corrections and additions. | |||
So….Where is yours? Thanks again. | |||
|thread= | |||
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[[ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1682977588484947969 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=It is an interesting question as to who inspires us in physics. Here is a list of 20th century giants whose work inspired me that might work as protagonists with interesting stories that deserve to be considered along with the best known [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]/Hawking/Oppenheimer/Etc.: | |||
[[CN Yang]] (with Lee and Simons)</br> | |||
[[Paul Dirac]]</br> | |||
Ernst Stueckelberg</br> | |||
[[Madame Wu]]</br> | |||
David Bohm</br> | |||
Abdus Salam</br> | |||
[[Ken Wilson]]</br> | |||
[[Emmy Noether]]</br> | |||
Ettore Majorana</br> | |||
Carlo Rubio</br> | |||
Shin'ichirō Tomonaga</br> | |||
[[Lev Landau]]</br> | |||
Simon Van der Meer</br> | |||
Freeman Dyson</br> | |||
Julian Schwinger</br> | |||
Paul Ehrenfest</br> | |||
John VonNeumann</br> | |||
Feza Gursey</br> | |||
Wolfgang Pauli</br> | |||
Louis and [[Ed Witten|Edward Witten]]</br> | |||
Hans Bethe</br> | |||
George Sudarshan</br> | |||
Vera Rubin</br> | |||
Gerard 't Hooft | |||
Not all of those stories are…uh…simple. | |||
Would be curious to hear names from others. | |||
|quote= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=sama-profile-k43GMz63.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/sama/status/1682809958734131200 | |||
|name=Sam Altman | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/sama | |||
|username=sama | |||
|content=i was hoping that the oppenheimer movie would inspire a generation of kids to be physicists but it really missed the mark on that. | |||
let's get that movie made! | |||
(i think the social network managed to do this for startup founders.) | |||
|timestamp=5:48 PM · Jul 22, 2023 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=4:54 AM · Jul 23, 2023 | |||
| | }} | ||
{{Tweet | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |image=Eric profile picture.jpg | ||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/ | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1682977591836196866 | ||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |username=EricRWeinstein | ||
|content= | |content=But let’s face facts: inspiration is not the issue. Fundamental Physics needs to be a good life. What is holding us back is: | ||
A) Terrible Pay. | |||
B) Worse Odds of Survival | |||
C) Decoupling of Success at Physics from Success in Physics | |||
D) The Matthew Effect. | |||
E) Math and Physics Pricks | |||
F) Tyranny of large programs over individuals. | |||
G) Multi Decade Stagnation | |||
H) Un Scientific And even Anti-scientific behavior. | |||
The | I) The Matilde Effect | ||
J) The Sudarshan Effect | |||
K) Ethics Collapse | |||
L) Needlessly long pedagogical sequence (e.g. intro physics -> Classical Mechanics -> Grad Classical Mechanics -> Symplectic Geometry) driven by history. | |||
M) Socializing physics into a team sport in areas dominated by individuals and iconoclasts. | |||
N) Tolerance for Program level failure (e.g. *obsessive* use of toy model physics to evade a reckoning). | |||
O) Intolerance for individual error and failure by those in programs. | |||
P) Failure to reward early contributions (e.g. *Abelian* Chern Simons QFT). | |||
Q) Atrocious MSM journalism distorting the public understanding. | |||
R) Relentless discussion of woo physics in public and 3-5 real topics (e.g. somebodies cat). | |||
S) Learned Helplessness coming from over-learning Ken Wilson. | |||
T) Inability to support motherhood of female physicists. | |||
U) Inability to keep physics marriages easily together with jobs. | |||
V) DEI loyalty oaths and loss of autonomy. | |||
W) Flooding of markets with disposable labor and abuse apprenticeship as labor. | |||
X) Kicking up on attribution. | |||
Y) Overpaying for cherry topping. | |||
Z) Fetishizing the quantum when innovation in classical field theory remains the heart of QFT. | |||
|timestamp=4:55 AM · Jul 23, 2023 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1682977595321720832 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=But lastly, if outsiders want to fund and fix movies, you will find that going to the “Leading physicists” won’t work. [[Peer Review|Peer review]] can’t work when the leadership *is* the problem. You get more failure. | |||
You need to hold meetings where you get disagreement. So choose the leaders and iconoclasts with great care. Patrick Collison isn’t terrible at this. B+. Best I have ever seen. Start there. Good luck. 🙏 | |||
|timestamp= | |timestamp=4:55 AM · Jul 23, 2023 | ||
}} | }} | ||
|timestamp= | |timestamp=5:14 AM · Jul 23, 2023 | ||
}} | }} | ||
=== 2024 === | |||
== Related Pages == | {{Tweet | ||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
* [[Isadore Singer]] | |nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1828104395000819753 | ||
* [[Quantum Gravity]] | |name=Eric Weinstein | ||
* [[Raoul Bott]] | |usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | ||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Many of you will be shocked by my IV. Which is perhaps why I asked for three… | |||
IV) I would choose [[String Theory]] or the Amplitudes / Double Copy approach. | |||
At least the String people are energized by the fact that the math is real even when the physics is fake. And at least the double copy people have a mystery connecting [[General Relativity|GR]] to the [[Standard Model|SM]]. | |||
B) As to who I find interesting. Anyone going it alone to follow a hunch, but who knows what [[General Relativity|GR]] and the [[Standard Model|SM]] are. Mavericks, not cranks. | |||
Woit, Lisi, Deutsche, Wolfram, myself and Barbour are all outside of purely traditional structures. Oppenheim and others are in such structures but still mavericks. I wish Sabine had a theory that I knew of. But I am not aware of one. | |||
The observation I would make is that being a professor is a double edged sword. Outside the Professorate it is almost impossible to function from isolation and deprivation. Inside, you get captured by a constant set of pressures to conform to things you know are sapping your vitality. And you go into angry denial “I do whatever I want as a professor! I just happen to believe in this large program which is known not to work but gives me grants and summer stipend.” | |||
Right now, I would bring those mavericks together with the most open of the professorate and steelman/catalog where those individual programs are in their trajectories. Duh. | |||
There are really fewer than 10 of them. This is absolutely obvious. It is cheap and would take almost no resources. It does not happen simply for reasons of political economy. There is no other reason not to do it. | |||
As for who excites me most (myself excluded): | |||
Nima Arkani Hamed</br> | |||
Frank Wilczek</br> | |||
Peter Woit</br> | |||
John Baez</br> | |||
[[Ed Witten]]</br> | |||
Luis Alvarez Gaume</br> | |||
[[Dan Freed]]</br> | |||
Jose Figueroa O’Farril | |||
And two others I will leave nameless for a top 10. | |||
——— | |||
So that is my take. It wasn’t a gotcha. | |||
If all we can do is bemoan the state of physics, we need to change our focus. | |||
Yes I expect to be savaged. For some reason, saying anything positive creates anger. Bring it. | |||
Thanks for your time. As always. | |||
🙏 | |||
|thread= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1828098295492915708 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=After seeing my friend @skdh say what is wrong with theoretical physics, I asked her what would theoretical physics done right look like. Specifically, which general approaches and which theorists she was most excited about. | |||
Her answer is in the quote tweet. | |||
The question was not a gotcha question so I will try to answer it myself below. | |||
I will say that I find her answer at turns both expected and shocking. There is very little going on, but there is not nothing. And if she is not excited by anything, that’s an amazing state of affairs. | |||
Here is my response to the same question below. Which many may not expect or accept. | |||
|media1=ERW-X-post-1828098295492915708-GV61tXbWAAAlkXp.jpg | |||
|quote= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=skdh-profile.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1828019281168109819 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=Eric, I am still saying the same thing I said in "Lost in Math" because the situation is still the same. | |||
Q1: Not sure whether you are asking for strategies or topics. For what strategies are concerned: necessity, consistency, phenomenology. For what topics are concerned: Quantum measurements, quantum gravity, dark matter. So yes, dark matter... but don't invent unnecessary details, hence my misgiving about the figure. The entire figure is basically screaming that theorists are inventing loads of unnecessarily contrived and useless theories. | |||
Q2: can't think of anyone, sorry | |||
|timestamp=10:38 AM · Aug 26, 2024 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=3:52 PM · Aug 26, 2024 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1828098300928823611 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=A) The three most promising lines of attack in fundamental physics. This is likely to confuse people who think in terms of “the strong community”, “the amplitudes program”, “the LQG community”. These are the “Team Sports” branches of attack. And team players really only recognize other teams which is a MASSIVE bias. That is why [[String Theory|String Theorists]] view [[Quantum Gravity|Loop Quantum Gravity]] as their hand chosen rigal. It is a team that they believe doesn’t challenge them; a partner to dunk on if you will. | |||
For my money, the true rivals are not teams. They are NOT communities. | |||
I). Spinorial/Clifford/Exceptional physics. This is almost never broken out. | |||
The idea here is that many of us believe that there is way more information in Spinorial physics of the particle spectrum of the Standard Model than has been used. In particular the D5 Dynkin diagram GUT is the missed off-ramp. | |||
In this generalized setting, Peter Woit of @notevenwrong, Roger Penrose, Myself, Garrett Lisi, and the exceptional algebra researchers focused on extending the octonionic tradition of the Turkish school are all clustered. In this school, almost everyone will be largely *wrong* in my opinion. But the right answer is most likely to come from this branch IMO. | |||
II) Classical Differential Geometric Field Theory. It is amazing to me how over-focused we seem on the quantum. The star of the show is not now, and never was the quantum. | |||
Let me put it in provocative terms: Classical Physics is where the real action has always been. Pun intended. | |||
The quantum is real. It’s mysterious. It’s mind blowing. And as a result it provides jobs and something to talk about when the classical theory is stagnant. But the dream of quantum theories that are born quantum never materialized. We still quantize classical theories, for all our posturing about needing to take classical limits of quantum theories. | |||
[[Ed Witten|Witten]] in particular popularized the notion that the incompatiblity between General Relativity and the Standard Model is a Classical vs Quantum problem. He’s wrong. | |||
The Classical GR theory is already incompatible with the Classical Standard Model. The incompatibility is already classical: NOT Quantum. | |||
The G_{mu, nu} operator concept of Einstein (and Grossman) is NOT gauge compatible. But the Standard Model IS a gauge theory. We have wasted 40 years in my opinion pretending that the GR vs SM split is a call to quantize gravity. We got there by pretended that GR is a kind of gauge theory which it obviously isn’t. And we pretend that you don’t quantize classical theories but take classical limits of quantum theories. Who this is supposed to fool is beyond me. The weak? The insecure? The egoic? | |||
Once you have the classical arena (the manifolds) the field content (the bundles, groups and representations) and the action, the game is largely already determined theoretically when you are quantizing a classical theory. The quantum theory is used to figure out what its real world consequences are. The world is quantum after all. | |||
So why does the Classical theory get sent to a diminished role? This is going to be brutal: it’s the political economy of Physics. It’s because the number of people who have contributed to the Lagrangians is tiny. Einstein/Grossman, Maxwell/Yang and Dirac tower over our theories. That’s spin 2, spin 1 and spin 1/2 right there. The Higgs sector pulls in Glashow, Englert, Weinberg, etc. But I believe this is temporary and will be absorbed back into the other sectors before too long. It is the ungainly sector after all that still feels contrived. Real, but contrived. | |||
And I believe that a lot of the toy work in low dimensions will turn out to be closer to GR than people imagine. Right now it looks closer to the Standard Model due to history. | |||
III) Non spacetime SUSY. | |||
I believe the reason we can neither find Supersymmetry nor get rid of it is that we misinstantiated it. There are no Squarks or Gluinos. Right idea, wrong off-ramp. This goes back to Salam and Strathdee. | |||
|timestamp=3:52 PM · Aug 26, 2024 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=4:17 PM · Aug 26, 2024 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1855292957630595421 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Are you also watching the brain trust of tbe Democratic Party who lost this election, now trying to figure out HOW they could possibly have lost this election? | |||
As a highly visible Democrat who never thought this was going to be close or a “nail biter”, and who said publicly that the the polls were off and that there was reason to think that preference falsification could result in a *landslide*, do you think anyone would pick up the phone and call? There is zero interest. Not one intern. Not one consultant. | |||
This is exactly like String Theory. For 40 years string theorists have hermetically sealed themselves in an imaginary universe where they are succeeding because they became the arbiters in a system called Peer Review. The Lords/Peers of String Theory do not talk with, and do not listen to commoners. As a result they enter into a curricular conversation. | |||
Listening to what @maddow has to say about @KamalaHarris’ part in @SpeakerPelosi’s brilliant strategy with @PeteButtigieg to help @SenSchumer after @donlemon’s insightful analysis mirroring Joy @thereidout brutal truths following the @NPR @cnn exposes of Trumps devious plans is exactly the String theory vibe. | |||
What does Cumrun say about Andy’s latest idea to build on Lenny’s insight to get around Eva’s paper showing that Ashok’s plan to use Juan’s discovery that Brian and Michio discussed recently on the 13th anniversary of Shamit’s paper tweaking David’s original epiphany, can only work if some speculations of Cumrun are true to begin with in Euclidean signature? | |||
Oh and by the way, there are no other approaches beyond [[String Theory]], because anyone not part of this circle is a self promoter saying “only words”. We will only need another 100 years before it gives fruit… | |||
Well, this is what a cult sounds like. Communists build such elaborate circular worlds of internal references. As do members of spiritual, academic and religious orders. | |||
My claim is that the Democratic leadership is a lucrative cult. It’s not a party. It’s not trying to win. It’s trying to serve its members and work towards winning as little as possible, consistent with first serving the personal needs of its senior leadership. It’s trying to pay its leadership in riches, prestige and control. It’s a payout system. What are all these people making financially? I don’t know. Nancy does alright. So does Rachel. But not all payment is monetary. | |||
That is why their conversation is so bizarre. They need to fire each other. But the entire point of our party as they see it is to serve as a trough. | |||
Take it from a pre-Dick Morris Democrat also focused on physics: the 1992 election 32 years ago brought us this madness in just the way that [[Ed Witten]], Michael Green and John Schwarz brought us The Holy Revelation of [[String Theory]] 40 years ago in 1984. | |||
The most important part of these cults is sealing out the critics as “interloping self promoting grifting charlatans.” | |||
I wound love to come on MSNBC and discuss my pre-election claims that this was unlikely to be close and quite possibly a landslide. I would love to help the party fire its senior leadership. It is well past time to overthrow the party’s brain trust that leads us away from focusing on the welfare of working families, free speech, individualistic greatness, common sense, consumer protection, fair play, and into the arms of evil and madness. | |||
The Clinton-Morris era needs to end. We need a revolt to overthrow our Lords and Masters. There is now no reason these people should be at the helm. | |||
None. | |||
🙏 | |||
|timestamp=4:54 PM · Nov 9, 2024 | |||
}} | |||
=== 2025 === | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1912162744863961364 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=I took your point. For some reason my point doesn’t seem to get through. | |||
I agree with you. He *could* make a strong statement to admit defeat. There are clear reasons not to do this from the ST perspective. It is thus unlikely. | |||
My point was that he could do something *vastly* less expensive. And the fact that Susskind, Witten, Greene, etc won’t do even that tells us that this isn’t about string theory. It’s about no other theories or theorist being worth considering. It’s abuse of the referee role. | |||
Somehow, the String Theorists set themselves up as a football team that is also the *sole* source of game referees. | |||
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 (TOGIT)|“The only game in town”]] campaign is not a 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. | |||
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. | |||
|thread= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1911991840204898751 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=People ask me how you can tell whether scientific experts are leveling with them if the lay public doesn’t understand deep science. | |||
Here an interviewer asks a leading String Theorist how things are going after 25 years since popularizing String theory in a well received book: | |||
|timestamp=3:55 AM · Apr 15, 2025 | |||
|media1=ERW-X-post-1911991840204898751-fZpX01IiyHtcrtY5.jpg | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=skdh-profile.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1912022194395467852 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=If Brian Greene publicly said he doesn't believe in string theory anymore it'd be the end of the field. He'd ruin the lives of thousands of people. Even if it was what he thinks, I strongly doubt he'd ever admit it. | |||
|timestamp=5:46 AM · Apr 15, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1912032953896673603 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|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 (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 (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. | |||
|timestamp=6:39 AM · Apr 15, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=skdh-profile.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/1912102850513023326 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=Yes, but that wasn't my point. My point is that Brian is a highly visible string spokesperson, I'd say second after Witten, but Witten doesn't talk much. If Brian were to renounce string theory, he'd be responsible for killing the careers of thousands of people, and he must know that. I am just saying I think it's unlikely he would do it, even if he had stopped believing it makes sense, and you need to factor this in when evaluating what he says. | |||
|timestamp=11:16 AM · Apr 15, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=3:14 PM · Apr 15, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1998178143006589049 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Gary wasn’t stupid. He was just on a failed dead end mission of intellectual suicide. He was shrewd, creative and wildly wrong about human beings at levels that are difficult to convey. | |||
And so it fell to him to tell the ultimate academic lie on behalf of his profession of economics: all humans have stable unchanging tastes. | |||
So dumb. So unethical. Such an intellectually pathetic move. But then he was refereeing the same game within which he was flagrantly cheating. | |||
He was easy to beat in any argument not judged by ideologues. But in Chicago and elsewhere they pretended this was genius rather than a flagrant attempt at patching the vulnerabilities that will sink Neo Classixal economic imperialism. | |||
He lived, and died, in a protected world, not unlike an academic Hermit Kingdom. An intellectual North Korea where people were always bowing before him if they wanted to survive and needed his favor. | |||
But the vulnerability is real. And believe me, he and I both knew it. It was tense as hell dealing with him for a reason: | |||
The fiction of Stable Tastes is THE analog of rhe exhaust vent on the Death Star of NeoClassical Economjc Imperialism. His life’s work. | |||
I look forward to showing you just how that little exhaust vent works. | |||
|thread= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1998178143006589049 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Unlike [[Paul Samuelson]] & [[Ken Arrow]], | |||
[[Gary Becker]] was cut from different cloth. He reminded me of my dealings w/ [[Lenny Susskind]], Larry Summers, Brad Delong, Jagdish Bhagwati, [[Ed Witten]], Mildred Dresselhaus & others, so possessed by ideology that academic reason could just vanish. | |||
|quote= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=BobMurphyEcon-profile-to4MBQzT.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/BobMurphyEcon/status/1998097742741250169 | |||
|name=Robert P. Murphy | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/BobMurphyEcon | |||
|username=BobMurphyEcon | |||
|content=In my recent interview of @EricRWeinstein, he referred to "stable preferences" as Achilles' heel of neoclassical econ. Exhibit A is this famous quote from Becker. At face value, Becker is saying a model w/dynamic preferences wouldn't even be economics anymore. Do others agree? | |||
|media1=BobMurphyEcon-X-post-1998097742741250169-G7qrSZ4W8AAZZcz.jpg | |||
|timestamp=6:29 PM · Dec 8, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=11:49 PM · Dec 8, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
|media1=ERW-X-post-1998178143006589049.gif | |||
|timestamp=11:49 PM · Dec 8, 2025 | |||
}} | |||
=== 2026 === | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007619430302564725 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=I agree with you. I think EFT is such an area. I think cosmology with variable dark energy is essential. I think discrete models disgust me (Wolfram) but should be funded. I think exceptional algebraic structures (Gunaydin, Gursey) are wrong headed but should be funded. | |||
I am for funding diverse approaches. | |||
But again this isn’t the point. | |||
The point isn’t that too few promised too much and got too many resources. | |||
The problem is that those few destroyed their competition, peers, rivals and challengers. And I want those theories/programs/models/researchers/predictions destroyed by those people REEVALUATED. I think [[Lenny Susskind|Lenny]] and [[Ed Witten|Ed]] and Andy etc may have buried the answers with insinuation, shunning, ridicule. | |||
I think we have had answers for 40 years. And I want *none* of the [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|TOGIT]] cult evaluating them. | |||
My claim is that we don’t know if [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|TOGIT]] is holding back progress outside string theory until we stop listening to their anti-science claims. | |||
I claim that [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|TOGIT]] is not our leading theory and has NEVER been for 40 years. It’s fake. It doesn’t work. There is no explanation in all of science that permits [[Ed Witten|Ed]] and [[Lenny Susskind|Lenny]] and Andy and company to exclude unexplored ideas and people that may well have succeed where they in particular have failed. | |||
|thread= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007289596498022879 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=This is such an absurd claim it's actually pretty funny. | |||
A few years ago I went over 31 examples of breakthroughs from the past 40 years (excluding Nobel prizes) | |||
https://x.com/nu_phases/status/1598331715340054528?s=20 | |||
But 50+ years really opens up some all time great results: | |||
|quote= | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=skdh-profile.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/skdh/status/2007000327846060048 | |||
|name=Sabine Hossenfelder | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/skdh | |||
|username=skdh | |||
|content=It's a fact that the foundations of physics have been stuck for 50+ years, everyone with half a brain can see that. The only "counterargument" against this are physicists who complain that writing a lot of papers is sorta progress. | |||
|timestamp=8:05 AM · Jan 2, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=3:15 AM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007331841381150742 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=If the rules for what is and is not a well defined theory (ie what Weinberg's "Phenomenological Lagrangians" paper change about our understanding of physics) is not "foundations", then I have no idea what we're talking about. | |||
|timestamp=6:03 AM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007453809841254854 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Why 3 generations? | |||
Why 15/16 Particles? | |||
Why tbese groups? | |||
Why these Internal Quantum Numbers | |||
Why the Higgs Quartic? | |||
Why the Yukawa Couplings? | |||
Etc. Etc. | |||
Without recourse to | |||
“Shut up and Regulate” EFT | |||
Anti-de-Sitter Space | |||
SUSY intuition that was disproved | |||
Toy Models | |||
Black Hole substitution | |||
Etc etc | |||
——— | |||
As I have said before: It’s a mitigated disaster. Not an unmitigated disaster. | |||
The biggest problem isn’t even the theory. It’s the violation of scientific norms needed to keep from facing what just happened over 4 decades because the violation of scientific norms and academic collegiality came from the leaders. Who need to admit what they did to their legitimate critics and rivals. It is an abuse issue. | |||
Hope this helps. | |||
|timestamp=2:07 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007456907347538300 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Out of curiousity, @grok, can you explain why we are having a non-serious discussion? | |||
Obviously everyone here knows exactly what this is about. It’s about one group taking over as the arbiters of physics beyond the standard model and failing to do what they promised while insulting everyone else who said this was crazy and/or had other ideas. | |||
This is about the [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|TOGIT]] crowd and its anti-scientific [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game In Town”]] cult. | |||
It feels like out of Fear for naming [[Ed Witten|Witten]], [[Lenny Susskind|Susskind]], Motl, Gross, Stominger etc. We have endless proxy discussions over nothing. | |||
Why can’t we just say “They Failed Theoretical Physics as Scientific Leaders” and have new voices picked from their critics? They failed. Can’t we just admit this? | |||
|timestamp=2:19 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007512215872811177 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=Neutrino mass is beyond the Standard Model, predicted by a breakthrough in our structural understanding theoretical physics, and later verified experimentally. If you don't think this is an example of what theoretical physic should be about, then I can't accept your definition. | |||
|timestamp=5:59 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007540816693342542 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Hi Daniel, | |||
As you and I both know, that is correct but only relevant here in a very technical way. | |||
Neutrino masses are of course fascinating, but not really conceptually new at all. In fact the PMNS mechanism update, completely PREDATES the [[Standard Model|SM]]. Further, it is just a leptonic version of CKM. | |||
So…What are we really even discussing? We both know the same stuff. This seems to be a red herring. A proxy. | |||
What is this really about? | |||
Thoughts? | |||
|timestamp=7:53 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007547226055422419 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=We are talking about apparently "nothing" conceptually important happening for 50+ years. Yet, until 1973 (52 years ago), it was a widely held believe that nuclear physics was not describable by QFT (Gross was trying to prove this when they found the opposite). | |||
|timestamp=8:18 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007547854479368602 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=So yes, I disagree that realization that (a) QFT describes the world and (b) QFT is a larger and more powerful framework than "renormalizability" is a conceptual change from prior to the 1970s and was not fully appreciated until the 1980s and beyond. | |||
|timestamp=8:21 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007549501188505965 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Many things have happened in general physics in 50 years: | |||
Experimental | |||
Mathematical | |||
Topological | |||
Condensed Matter | |||
Astrophysical | |||
Cosmological | |||
QFT as a toolkit framework | |||
Etc. | |||
That’s not what we are discussing, is it? | |||
We are discussing the [[Standard Model|SM]] plus [[General Relativity|GR]] Lagrangians no? | |||
|timestamp=8:27 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/1621355254880272384 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=We are discussing what are the "foundations" of physics. I don't think even you and Sabine agree on this. Neutrino mass is zero in the "Standard Model". Dark matter is definitely not (and we can argue about the CC). The origin of structure is also no in the SM (inflation). | |||
|timestamp=8:39 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007560556207869967 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=I don’t usually agree with @skdh on funding. Or about math. Or a great many other things including her manifestly incorrect characterization of my work. She is wrong about a number of things in my opinion. But she isn’t “all wrong” in some weird way. She is usually pretty insightful. | |||
Neutrinos being massless in the [[Standard Model|SM]]? C’mon. I covered that above 👆 no? PMNS was in the 1960s. Not even 1973. Older than the [[Standard Model|SM]]. | |||
That is not the issue. Unlike @skdh, I think many physicists need more money to do their job. | |||
The problem isn’t any of this. | |||
The problem is only one group is allowed to present ideas about the origins of the [[Standard Model|SM]] and [[General Relativity|GR]] without derision, deliberate misinterpretation, theft, character assassination, inteuendo. This is [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|“The Only Game In Town”]] or [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|TOGIT]] cult. Some of us have tried to challenge this group scientifically for more than 40 years. | |||
The trouble is when you say “Let’s hear from all the people with ideas that directly *contradict* the String Theory leaders.” | |||
The problem is that this is what holds back progress. What is holding back progress is senior physicists who wont allow dissidents in good standing who think [[Lenny Susskind|Susskind]] and [[Ed Witten|Witten]] and Gross just oversaw the most spectacular catastrophe in modern physics. | |||
And everyone who dares to say this is scapegoated. | |||
The [[Quantum Gravity|QG]] leaders all failed us Daniel. They will never break the logjam that they created and cannot acknowledge. | |||
Their critics would. But they cannot get close as they are STILL not allowed to question the failed program as members in good standing inside the system. | |||
That is the problem. With all respect to you Daniel. | |||
Let’s be honest about what this is about in 2026. It’s about failure. Not neutrino masses. | |||
|timestamp=9:11 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007569311955861891 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=You cannot write the PMNS matrix in the SM (its not renormalizable). Yes, the idea existed in some before there was an electroweak theory. This is like saying there was no conceptual change to chemistry with the discovery of the atom because it was already invented by Democritus | |||
|timestamp=9:46 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007569885325668679 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=If you want to complain about QG, please go ahead. It's nowhere on my list. However, even the reframing that QG is well-defined as an effective theory is a novel development (also not clear in the 60s-70s). But part of the problem is your reframing QG = all fundamental physics. | |||
|timestamp=9:48 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007577463497601336 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Something is not right in your picture: | |||
“But part of the problem is your reframing QG = all fundamental physics.” | |||
I’m saying the opposite. I’m saying that the QG people made all of fundamental physics about their view of quantizing gravity. I’m saying that was the catastrophe. | |||
|timestamp=10:19 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007578265893114346 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Further it’s not about complaining. | |||
No one smart wants to complain. They want to do work, have it evaluated and get credit for their ideas so they can do more work and have a good life. | |||
The complainers are those trying to say “No one gets to give seminars about the origin of chirality or 3 generations unless it comes out of The Only Game In Town: | |||
|timestamp=10:22 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
|media1=ERW-X-post-2007578265893114346-fgp2b8pfmMeBy2Y1.jpg | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007579362913054897 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Daniel: the problem is [[Ed Witten|Witten]]/[[Lenny Susskind|Susskind]]/Motl totalizing sociology of only letting the failed group monopolize legitimacy. | |||
They failed. That’s the issue. Deal with that. | |||
You can’t hide this behind neutrino masses. There were other BETTER ideas that *they* pushed out of physics. | |||
|timestamp=10:26 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=Eric profile picture.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein/status/2007582523728245073 | |||
|name=Eric Weinstein | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/EricRWeinstein | |||
|username=EricRWeinstein | |||
|content=Daniel: try to steelman my point. | |||
“Fundamental Physics Theory largely stagnated and lost touch with reality due to anti-scientific gatekeeping by leaders of the failed [[String Theory]] community playing stupid and attempting to monopolize legitimacy under [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)|‘The Only Game In Town’]]” | |||
|timestamp=10:39 PM · Jan 3, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
{{Tweet | |||
|image=nu_phases-profile-N2mdKUuJ.jpg | |||
|nameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases/status/2007608251924549922 | |||
|name=Daniel Green | |||
|usernameurl=https://x.com/nu_phases | |||
|username=nu_phases | |||
|content=I agree that too many resources went to a small group that has over-promised and under-achieved. I also agree that has slowed progress in other areas where real progress is happening. | |||
Where we disagree is that I think there is real progress that needs to be highlighted instead. | |||
|timestamp=12:21 AM · Jan 4, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
|timestamp=1:05 AM · Jan 4, 2026 | |||
}} | |||
== Related Pages == | |||
* [[Isadore Singer]] | |||
* [[Quantum Gravity]] | |||
* [[Raoul Bott]] | |||
* [[String Theory]] | * [[String Theory]] | ||
* [[The Only Game in Town (TOGIT)]] | |||
{{stub}} | |||
[[Category:Mathematics]] | [[Category:Mathematics]] | ||
[[Category:People]] | [[Category:People]] | ||
[[Category:Portal Topics]] | [[Category:Portal Topics]] | ||
[[Category:Physics]] | |||