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A review by gregbrown
The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next by Lee Smolin
4.0
Smolin's The Trouble with Science is kind of a weird book. It was originally meant as a book about the sociology of the scientific community, but the string theory portion swelled to make the book more commercially viable. And to Smolin's credit, that part of the book was what originally pulled me in; he does an excellent job of detailing the history of science over the last few decades, including the developments that led to string theory as well as alternative programs. But about 3/4ths of the way through the book, the topic shifts to problems within the scientific community with a big clunk, and you sense that's his true passion.
One of the fundamental issues—one only semi-directly dealt with at the end of the book and never explicitly said—is that our social expectations of theory and the needs of science have come to be at odds. We want any new theories to agree with existing ones (for the standard model is possibly the most successful scientific theory ever), but need ones that disagree to actually give us testable predictions and cope with the unexpected results of experimentation. So we get theories, both string and otherwise, that only differ on the very large or very small scales. And whenever we do find unexpected effects at those scales, we are often left with nothing that had predicted them.
He does close, though, with a wonderful paen to the different "seers" in the field, those who have pursued inconsistencies and worries about the structure of theories for decades. They ran in the face of the field's traditional incentive structure, which prizes publishable work to earn tenure and looks for consistent output that precludes tackling the big fundamental issues of physics. It's hard to not tie this to Bret Victor's "Inventing on Principle" talk that's been circulating lately, and see the same lesson here. Pursuing a principle as a guiding light can lead you to much greater things than simply seeking to excel or solve a specific problem. It's a vision of the way the world should be, one that leads you to the skills and the means you need to make it a reality.
One of the fundamental issues—one only semi-directly dealt with at the end of the book and never explicitly said—is that our social expectations of theory and the needs of science have come to be at odds. We want any new theories to agree with existing ones (for the standard model is possibly the most successful scientific theory ever), but need ones that disagree to actually give us testable predictions and cope with the unexpected results of experimentation. So we get theories, both string and otherwise, that only differ on the very large or very small scales. And whenever we do find unexpected effects at those scales, we are often left with nothing that had predicted them.
He does close, though, with a wonderful paen to the different "seers" in the field, those who have pursued inconsistencies and worries about the structure of theories for decades. They ran in the face of the field's traditional incentive structure, which prizes publishable work to earn tenure and looks for consistent output that precludes tackling the big fundamental issues of physics. It's hard to not tie this to Bret Victor's "Inventing on Principle" talk that's been circulating lately, and see the same lesson here. Pursuing a principle as a guiding light can lead you to much greater things than simply seeking to excel or solve a specific problem. It's a vision of the way the world should be, one that leads you to the skills and the means you need to make it a reality.