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Lost in Math

How Beauty Leads Physics Astray

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Lost in Math

By: Sabine Hossenfelder
Narrated by: Laura Jennings
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About this listen

A contrarian argues that modern physicists' obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science

Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth.

©2018 Sabine Hossenfelder (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Epistemology Movements Philosophy Physics

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Too technical and repetitive

The blurb sounded really interesting, and the premise is interesting, but you can basically get the main point within a couple of chapters and then it is just repetitive. As a non-physicist I was hoping I'd come away with an increased understanding of theoretical physics, but most of the explanations are overly complex and not accessible to non-physicists. Also, alot of interviews of senior male physicists, sad it took the single female interviewed to actually ask what the author herself thought. I enjoyed some of the discussion in the later chapters, e.g. about the role of philosophers in science and explanation of cognitive biases. And at least I understand why Sheldon and Amy's Nobel Prize is significant in 'The Big Bang Theory' now.

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