Author Archives: woit

Strings 2025

Posted on January 10, 2025 by woit

Enjoying a vacation on a Caribbean porch, and just had a couple hours to kill with good internet access. For some reason I spent part of them listening to the summary panel discussions at Strings 2025, which just ended today. … Continue reading →

Posted in Strings 2XXX | 27 Comments

A Milestone

Posted on January 2, 2025 by woit

I recently realized that this would be the 2000th posting on this blog and was hoping to have something interesting to post for the occasion. Things though have been very quiet and I’m about to go off on vacation, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

String Theory Debate

Posted on December 28, 2024 by woit

Recently Curt Jaimungal offered to host a debate over string theory between me and a willing string theorist. Joe Conlon took him up on the offer and our discussion is now available. I think it turned out quite well, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 37 Comments

This Week’s Hype, etc.

Posted on December 17, 2024 by woit

NYU today put out a press release claiming that Physicists ‘Bootstrap’ Validity of String Theory, telling us that NYU and Caltech scientists develop innovative mathematical approach to back existence of long-held framework explaining all physical reality. and String theory, conceptualized … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 40 Comments

(Blinkered) Visions in Quantum Gravity

Posted on December 13, 2024 by woit

This past summer Nordita ran a program on quantum gravity, featuring lectures and panel discussions on various approaches to the subject. Lecture notes from the six mini-courses are now available here. There’s also a long, 39 author document called Visions … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Wick Rotating Weyl Spinor Fields

Posted on December 7, 2024 by woit

It’s been taking me forever to sort out and write down the details of implications of the proposal described here. While waiting for that to be done, I thought it might be a good idea to write up one piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification | 14 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on November 22, 2024 by woit

If a post-truth field of science is going to keep going, it needs to convince funders and the public that progress is being made, so there’s a continual need for people uninterested in truth and willing to produce appropriate propaganda. … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 7 Comments

The Impossible Man

Posted on November 15, 2024 by woit

There’s a new book out this week, a biography of Roger Penrose by Patchen Barss, with the title The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the cost of genius. Penrose is one of the greatest figures in physics and mathematical physics … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 32 Comments

Why Sabine Hossenfelder is Just Wrong

Posted on November 11, 2024 by woit

Sabine Hossenfelder’s latest video argues There’s no reason for nature to be pretty (5:00) Working on a theory of everything is a mistake because we don’t understand quantum mechanics (8:00). These are just wrong: nature is both pretty and described … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | 20 Comments

Living in a Post-truth World

Posted on November 6, 2024 by woit

I grew up in the 1960s and 70s, at a time when fundamental physics was making huge dramatic progress and Western democracies were changing in equally dramatic ways, mostly for the better. It truly did seem that the Age of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 58 Comments