34 min listen
Rationally Speaking #7 - Peter Woit discusses whether string theory is “not even wrong”
Rationally Speaking #7 - Peter Woit discusses whether string theory is “not even wrong”
ratings:
Length:
34 minutes
Released:
Apr 25, 2010
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
We are taking on fundamental physics! Our guest, Peter Woit, is a physicist in the Department of Mathematics at Columbia University and author of "Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law." We discuss the apparently peculiar state of theoretical physics and the rather startling possibility that superstring theory — the best candidate in decades as the elusive “theory of everything” — may actually have been a colossal dead end for the physics community. We also explore the meaning of theory in science, and what is the connection between theory, observation and experiment. As it turns out, superstring theory has not been able to make any empirically testable predictions, which supports the argument that perhaps it isn’t — as Peter puts it — “even wrong,” meaning that it just isn’t science.
Released:
Apr 25, 2010
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
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