The Trouble with Physics

The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next

By: Lee Smolin

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

In this illuminating book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that fundamental physics - the search for the laws of nature - is losing its way. Ambitious ideas about extra dimensions, exotic particles, multiple universes, and strings have captured the publics imagination - and the imagination of experts. But these ideas have not been tested experimentally, and some, like string theory, seem to offer no possibility of being tested. Yet these speculations dominate the field, attracting the best talent and much of the funding and creating a climate in which emerging physicists are often penalized for pursuing other avenues. As Smolin points out, the situation threatens to impede the very progress of science.

With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin offers an unblinking assessment of the troubles that face modern physics - and an encouraging view of where the search for the next big idea may lead.

©2007 Lee Smolin (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Courting controversy, Smolin is a reflective, self-confident challenger to pro-string physicist-authors Brian Greene, Leonard Susskind, and Michio Kaku." (Booklist)

Encouraging Physics

Being a layman interested in quantum theory I found this book important, and even touching. There is trouble with physics and it is wonderful that a very few scientists are pointing it out. I agree with Smolin that the trouble with physics is deeper and more insidious than run of the mill historical scientific dogma. New physicists are being encouraged to research an un-testable theory and actively discouraged from investigating any other underlying foundations of quantum physics. Smolin does not offer any answers, but demonstrates the problem, and encourages more open inquiry. Unfortunately the trouble with physics is very deep. Some of the greatest minds of the twentieth century spent entire careers on open inquiry to understand the fundamentals of physics, yet failed utterly. It is understandable that most advisers, after seeing decades of wasted genius, discourage their gifted students from such pursuits. Yet such pursuits may be the only path to true progress in physics.

This book does not stand on its own really well, it is dependent on having some grounding in the history of quantum theory, so I would suggest reading Lindley’s Uncertainty (and maybe some others), before this reading this book.

Hopefully this book will encourage some unknown non-professional, like Einstein, to ignore the conventional wisdom and see the simple and obvious truth that every professional physicist has missed for a century.

Well done, though a little repetitive at times

I don't know much about the state of Physics research, so I don't know if Smolin's complaints have merit. But in my experience observing the state of science in general, Smolin's complaints resonate.

His main beef is not with string theory *per se*, only with the pervasiveness of string theory in physics research. Sure, he has some problems with the theory itself, mainly that it has grown so large and complex that it is practically unverifiable by experimental means. But more importantly, string theory has become so popular that it has squeezed out practically every other area of research. Smolin advocates that physics departments take on more risk and start investing in more esoteric lines of research. He uses a financial analogy: venture capitalists take on a certain amount of risk KNOWING that they will lose some percentage of their investments, but that some other percentage will win big.

Smolin advocates a similar strategy for physics: more "investment" in riskier lines of research, which have a greater chance of failure, but which can also provide the next great breakthrough. Smolin thinks that too much research is vested in the "safe" string theories, and hence growth (in terms of new theories and new knowledge) has practically stalled for an entire generation of physicists.

He makes a compelling point. Very interesting listen. One complaint though: he occasionally gets repetitive in his arguments. This book could have probably been 1/3 shorter without losing anything.

Love Smolin's work and his philosophy

String theory, Not.

Since I picked up Hawking's A Brief History, I have been looking for a book to continue the story of how humanity as a whole understands the Cosmos, which fundamentally, is a question of "what is space and time?" and "what is the mechanism behind the phenomenon of gravitation?"

Smolin starts with a great overview of how our understanding of the cosmos has improved since Einstein - especially in the field of particle physics. In recalling the recent developments since particle physics, he admits that virtually no significant breakthrough of our understanding of physics has occurred as astronomical observations continue to collect data, which obviates the need for a new unified theory of gravity.

The core of his frustration is not directed at other physicists but the way the current academic culture does not allow young students to question the assumption of their predecessors. His main argument is that, for the past two decades, this culture stagnated young physicists' ability to use their creative and imaginative curiosity to explore various possible ways to explain the same phenomenon of gravity and spacetime.

Though he talks little about the psychosocial background of Einstein's time, I can't help but draw the parallel between the examples he gives of "outsiders" and how Einstein's difficulty obtaining an academic position allowed him to think outside of his own contemporary physics dogma at the turn of the 20th century.

Taking this idea further, Smolin asserts that new breakthrough theories might come not from academic groups but from creative and independent thinkers outside of the established academic discipline of physics.

To put this into perspective of our living world, the year 2011 turned the world upside-down by the upheaval of masses to challenge the status quo as information becomes more and more transparent in the unsustainable philosophy in the areas of politics and economy.

Though I try to distance myself from the pop-spiritualism with all its "Age of Aquarius" nonsense, 2012 actually does appear to be a good candidate for a "miracle" year for physics as well as other fields of human activity. This year may be when we, as individuals, feel the large-scale events of technical singularity unfold.

This year, the world of physics just might be surprised by an obscure yet brilliantly creative mind that brings us to a new era of understanding of our cosmos - and teach us an important lesson in the way we should support the brilliant minds of our future.

I'm waiting for a Gregori Perelman of the physics world to submit his landmark article on arXiv with my fingers crossed.

A sociopolitical view of college education.

Don't get me wrong. Just because I gave this book 3 stars, does not mean that I did not like it. It is not a bad book. The target audience needs to be clear in the description of this book. That is why I gave it 3 stars.

The first half of the book focuses on the sociopolitical reasons why String Theory is so popular in college education, and how that popularity is sufficating the growth of other theories that compete with it. To understand the first half, you really need to understand String Theory. If you do not yet have a grasp of it, as I do not, then you have no way of knowing if the arguments hold water.

For me, a hobbyist in the areas of cosmology, astrology, and astrophysics, I really enjoyed the second half of the book. In the second half the author talks about competing theories, and others, that have gained little or no attention. Some of those were quite fascinating and I plan on doing some reading about them.

Near the end of the second half, the author goes deeper into the sociopolitical problems with college education in America specifically. Again, I had no foundation that gave me the right to agree or disagree. All I could do is listen to a passionate argument about something I knew little about.

The one thing that I got from this book is that Lee Smolin is very smart and passionate about his work. I would love to meet him some day and chat over a few beers and talk about the beginning of the cosmos, and what may lay beyond a black hole.

Good overview of Physics

I was prepared not to like this book, but I enjoyed it very much. The author does a very good job at summarizing the state of physics in 2007 and the influence of string theory as of that point in time. He does an excellent job of explaining physics and does a good job of putting string theory into its proper context. He starts off with the five major problems haunting physics (measurement problem, where do constants come from, grand unified theory, and two things) and explains what they mean in detail.

He does mention that it's easy to knock something down without putting forth alternatives. The last third of the book is his attempt at giving alternatives. If audible makes available the authors current book "Time Reborn", I would get it in a heart beat. The author is that good at explaining science and the most enjoyable part of this book was the last third of the book where he speculates on future alternatives to string theory.

A lot of his criticisms he gives to string theory could apply to any science branch. Such as statement that scientist are insular within their specialty and aren't willing to listen to other scientist who are in another specialty that doesn't support their specialty. With that mind, I think when he singled out String Theorist, I would just imagine that he was talking about quantum loop gravity specialist instead.

The narrator, Walter Dixon, is one of the few whose book I would buy just because he's narrating, and as usual he didn't disappoint.

An Important Work.

This is a must read for any self described science seeker. Smolin would make William of Occam proud. That being said this title lost a star for poor audio quality. I sincerely hope Audible revisits this book it's not the narrator's fault. The production feels robotic (filter problem?). All aside buy and read anyway the narrative is that important!

Physics Honesty At Last !

Would you listen to The Trouble with Physics again? Why?

Yes. I will listen several times. Well done production, fascinating topic, and the truth about String Theory...what more could anyone ask?

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Trouble with Physics?

Right from the start, Smolin identifies they 'Trouble with Physics'. Anyone really interested in Physics could not resist hearing this refreshing and un-biased viewpoint.

What about Walter Dixon’s performance did you like?

Walter Dixon's reading is always clear and clean - his command of reading in technical subjects is exemplary.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was not aware of the extent to which the 'Monster' of String Theory had invaded all of Physics research, apparently to the exclusion of any actual Critical thought. Quite alarming, actually.

Any additional comments?

Many thanks to Doctor Smolin for writing a REAL Physics book for people who have wanted to know the true state of Physics for years. The last book I thought was as valuable was Gary Zukav's 'Dancing Wu Li Masters'.Other popular Physics books, these days, promote String Theory almost exclusively, and usually without even a nod to the glossing over required to swallow String Theory itself, the very limited likelihood that these problems can be overcome, and the additional Foundational Problems of the Theories-Behind-the-Theory (Quantum Theory, for instance, which, while a very successful, functional tool, cannot be applied to extensive or complex systems, and which relies on many unexplained features such as 'quantum jitters' as Brian Greene calls them, and the Uncertainty Principle - which is not explained, but has an "is because it is" acceptance among Quantum Theorists). Lee Smolin's book speaks *directly* about the 5 main Problems that Physics needs to address to get back on track and become consistent (and Scientific) again.

Physicists are humans too...

This is one of the most important books you could read as a "consumer" of science in your everyday life. On its surface, the book is about the dogmatic approach by the dominant group of physicists regarding string theory - an elegant explanation of the foundational concepts of the universe, but (very) possibly incorrect. In spite of decades of work, research has stalled, and the adherents have circled the wagons to shut out any questioning or critique of their ideas. It's ironic that scientific minds (most of which are committed atheists) find themselves falling into religious thinking – taking their ideas on faith instead of relying on the scientific method. What's most surprising is that they can't see it. That's what's so pernicious about it.

We see this same sort of dogmatic approach in many other areas of our collective psychology – it's not just an issue in science. However, science is that one place where we hope to use a different method to suss out the truth about our world.

This is a cautionary tale of dogmatic adherence to an idea – any idea – and where it can lead.

Good on physics, less the rest

While Smolin's description of physics and the problems in the field resonated with me as a one-time physics student, indeed articulating some reasons why I left better than I previously could have, his references to areas outside his expertise were less helpful. Specifically, his conculsions after presenting the problems with physics seem muddled. While he claims he doesn't take an individualist approach to assigning blame for the state of physics, his proposed solutions all seem to boil down to calls for individuals to do better, evaluate evidence better, be better advocates for good science and have open minds. How this is supposed to be achieved if the problem is indeed structural doesn't seem to have been considered. Further, his repeated and oddly forced-feeling denunciations of Marxism of all things felt reminiscent of the exact "group-think" kind of phenomenon Smolin spends much of the book decrying, with the few direct statements about Marxism seeming not to reflect an informed position, irrespective of their criticality. He mentions communist relatives at some point so perhaps he has a skewed perspective on Marxism based on his personal exposure to it? It wouldn't surprise me at all that an American theoretical physicist hasn't dived deep into Marxist scholarship, but in that case, Smolin's dismissive statements about it are a deeply ironic stain on this otherwise insightful look into the problems plaguing physics and represent a missed opportunity to gain deeper insight into the mechanisms that, as he puts it, allow a system to continue functioning even when most individual members of it can tell you something is deeply wrong. Overall I appreciate Smolin's heterodox, visionary, incisive perspective on the state of physics, but for the same reason I suspect I found that perspective in a physicist, I'm going to stick with Marixsts when seeking insight on the state of Marxism.

Not just another rehash of Newton & Einstein

If you have some background in relativity and quantum physics, and don't want to listen to another book where half of it is a review of Newton and Einstein, this is for you. Smolin discusses some of the problems with the reigning paradigms, mainly String Theory, and then offers some promising alternatives, which, sadly, get too little attention. He ends with a philosophical discussion of why we need people who "color outside the lines" to advance the field of quantum gravity, which has reached stagnation. This book applies to all fields where new ideas and speculation is suppressed by the reigning theorists.