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gjm comments on [LINK] Forty Years of String Theory: Reflecting on the Foundations - Less Wrong
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It is strange that "Forty Years of String Theory: Reflecting on the Foundations" doesn't have any of the bigger names from string theory (particularly, no Ed Witten?), but has pretty much the full list of controversial (some people would say outright currently crackpotish[1]) names like 't Hooft, Verlinde, Smolin and lately also Susskind. I am not picking sides, but this raises all sorts of red flags about it. I bet Motl will be all over this.
I'll have a look at Susskind's paper, particularly if he is railing against reductionism.
[1] 't Hooft's and Susskind's contributions to modern theoretical physics can't be understated, but their general reputation suffered in recent years.
Typo alert: not "t'Hooft" but "'t Hooft".
Motl is ... not exactly immune to charges of crackpottery himself.
Gosh, thanks, fixed it... I know I'm not the first to screw this up, but still...
Yes, Motl has to be handled with lot's of care, though usually as far as physics goes I find him alright (unlike say climate change and a bunch of other stuff). His tone can be off-putting, but I see him still as a useful contrarian in some areas and generally an interesting case study of an extremely bright person with some strange opinions and a very... interesting personality (to put it mildly).