Here is a link to a good review of what seems to be an important book about the current state of physics. Review: Lost in Math by Sabine Hossenfelder (eyrie.org) The author of the book, Prof. Hossenfelder, has a blog I'm sure I've quoted from a time or two here. She is plainly no admirer of string theory or of a "many-worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, I will say no more. Except that I like the illustration google images offered me for the many-worlds theory you see here. Man and woman meet. They are either a love connection or not (the lid is opened and that cat is alive or dead). The time lines split. In the bottom half, we see the world if they part quickly. Either our protagonist meets another woman or he lives alone, The world splits again. And so forth. Cute and simply done.
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Happy New Year! On Christmas Eve Day, I mentioned a recent book, Why String Theory? by Joseph Conlon. I said I'd discuss its philosophical significance this week. Here we are, at the start of a new year, and we can start 2017 off with something weighty. String theory is often presented as a "theory of everything" or ToE. This is both its charm and (in many minds) its downfall. These fundamental strings winding through X dimensions might allow for a geometrical description of all the particles, and the forces, enumerated in modern physics courses. The bestiary of different subatomic particles has become confusing and crowded -- the strong demand of human minds for conceptual order requires some clean-up work there. As to forces, the "force left out" is always gravity. The other forces -- strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic, have all made their peace with one another through the magic of quantum mechanics. Gravity remains aloof. One big goal of ...
I'm feeling lazy, in a Christmas-holiday sort of way, so today I'll just observe that Physics World has named its 2016 Book of the Year. It's a book with a philosophical dimension, about which I will say something if I'm feeling more ambitious next week at this time. The winner: Why String Theory? by Joseph Conlon. For now, I'll just insert a cartoon about hinting gently at the sort of skepticism against which string theory requires a defense.