The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
Cover of the hardcover edition
Author
Lee Smolin
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Science
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date
September 19, 2006
Media type
Print
Pages
416 pp
ISBN
978-0-618-55105-7
OCLC
64453453
Dewey Decimal
530.14 22
LC Class
QC6 .S6535 2006
Preceded by
Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2001)
Followed by
Time Reborn (2013)
The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next is a 2006 book by the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin about the problems with string theory. The book strongly criticizes string theory and its prominence in contemporary theoretical physics, on the grounds that string theory has yet to come up with a single prediction that can be verified using any technology that is likely to be feasible within our lifetimes. Smolin also focuses on the difficulties faced by research in quantum gravity, and by current efforts to come up with a theory explaining all four fundamental interactions. The book is broadly concerned with the role of controversy and diversity of approaches in scientific processes and ethics.
Smolin suggests both that there appear to be serious deficiencies in string theory and that string theory has an unhealthy near-monopoly on fundamental physics in the United States, and that a diversity of approaches is needed. He argues that more attention should instead be paid to background independent theories of quantum gravity.
In the book, Smolin claims that string theory makes no new testable predictions;[1] that it has no coherent mathematical formulation; and that it has not been mathematically proved finite.[2] Some experts in the theoretical physics community disagree with these statements.[3][4]
Smolin states that to propose a string theory landscape having up to 10500 string vacuum solutions is tantamount to abandoning accepted science:
The scenario of many unobserved universes plays the same logical role as the scenario of an intelligent designer. Each provides an untestable hypothesis that, if true, makes something improbable seem quite probable.[5]
^The Trouble with Physics, p. xiv
^Finiteness is discussed at length in chpts. 9 and 16 of The Trouble with Physics, especially pp. 278-81.
^Polchinski, Joseph (2007) "All Strung Out?" a review of The Trouble with Physics and Not Even Wrong, American Scientist 95(1):1.
^Motl, Luboš. "Lee Smolin: The Trouble with Physics: a review" on The Reference Frame
^Smolin, quoted in Riordan, Michael "Stringing physics along", Physics World (February 1, 2007)
and 25 Related for: The Trouble with Physics information
Theoretical Physics and science journalist George Johnson regarding the controversy caused by the books of Lee Smolin (TheTroublewithPhysics) and Woit...
absolutely nothing. — Lee Smolin (2007), TheTroublewithPhysics, p. 16 Exotic matter is a concept of particle physics, which may include dark matter and dark...
In his book TheTroubleWithPhysics, physicist Lee Smolin of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics claims that this is the principal weakness...
Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 209. Lee Smolin (2008). TheTroublewithPhysics. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101835-5. Levitt, Steven (4 March...
TheTroublewith Gravity: Solving the Mystery Beneath Our Feet is a nonfiction popular science book by Richard Panek and published by Houghton Mifflin...
(2006) TheTroublewithPhysics (pp. 321–22); (2013) Time Reborn (pp. 92–5) Monk, Ray (6 June 2013). "Time Reborn by Lee Smolin – review". The Guardian...
1088/1126-6708/2005/10/033. S2CID 14320855. Smolin, Lee (2006). TheTroubleWithPhysics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next. Houghton...
theory in physics that describes the behavior of nature at and below the scale of atoms.: 1.1 It is the foundation of all quantum physics, which includes...
Lee. (2006). "Chapter 14. Building on Einstein". TheTroublewithPhysics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next. Boston...
TheTroublewith Atheism is an hour-long documentary on atheism, presented by Rod Liddle. It was broadcast on Channel 4 in Britain in December 2006. The...
conform to the political or academic views of the field or the institution where they seek tenure. For example, in TheTroublewithPhysics, the theoretical...
net Bubble trouble: how physics can quantify stock-market crashes, Tobias Preis, Physics World Online Lecture Series Archived 2011-12-30 at the Wayback Machine...
and the universe are that allows us to comprehend why it is natural to find one inhabited by the other." Quantum mechanics TheTroubleWithPhysics Three...
quantum gravity known as "internal relativity". "Press release for "TheTroublewithPhysics" published by Houghton Mifflin Company : Hot Young Physicists"...
In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity, i.e., to accelerate, meaning a change in speed or direction, unless...
theoretical physicist at the Perimeter Institute, University of Waterloo and University of Toronto, author of TheTroublewithPhysics Eric Steig, glaciologist...
1998. Retrieved December 5, 2008. Clark, Maggie. "Book review: TheTroublewithPhysics by Lee Smolin". Imprint Online. University of Waterloo. Retrieved...
again, and then repeat the division, over and over. Can you go on for ever, or do the laws of physics eventually get in the way? Is the fabric of space infinitely...
By 1960, Richard Feynman’s research and discoveries in physics had resolved a number of troubling inconsistencies in several fundamental theories. In particular...
Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit (2006) Roger Crisp, Reasons and the Good (2006) Lee Smolin, TheTroublewithPhysics (2006) February 4 - Betty Friedan (born 1921) February...
vol. 61, no. 17, p. 1903–1905, 1988 Lee Smolin: TheTroubleWithPhysics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, First Mariner...
2020. "TheTroubleWith Stephen Wolfram's New 'Fundamental Theory of Physics'". Gizmodo. 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020. Stephen, Wolfram. "The Personal...
Global Information