Category Archives: Uncategorized

Witten Interview

Posted on May 2, 2019 by woit

Graham Farmelo has posted a very interesting interview he did with Witten last year, as part of his promotion of his forthcoming book The Universe Speaks in Numbers. One surprising thing I learned from the interview is that Witten learned … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania, Uncategorized | 38 Comments

Falsifiability and Physics

Posted on April 23, 2019 by woit

Symmetry magazine today published an article on Falsifiability and physics, yet another in the genre of defense of current HEP theory against its critics. As usual, only defenders of the status quo are quoted, the critics remain unnamed and their … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 33 Comments

This and That

Posted on April 16, 2019 by woit

Since you’ve read about the black hole image elsewhere, here are a few other items that might be of interest: I was sorry to hear today of the death on April 11 of Geoffrey Chew. Throughout the 1960s, Chew’s S-matrix/bootstrap … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Not Even Wrong 2.0

Posted on March 31, 2019 by woit

This blog has just passed its 15th anniversary, and there hasn’t been a lot of change in format since the first postings in March 2004 (there hasn’t been a lot of change in string theory either, but that’s a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 116 Comments

Some Quick Items

Posted on March 25, 2019 by woit

A few quick items: This past weekend I went to see the new film Out of Blue, which sounded promising: a murder mystery based on a Martin Amis book, set in New Orleans, starring Patricia Clarkson, with a plot involving … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Uncategorized | 13 Comments

In it for the Long Haul

Posted on March 8, 2019 by woit

The CERN Courier today has a long interview with the omnipresent Nima Arkani-Hamed, discussing the current state of HEP physics. About the motivations for a next-generation collider project, I’m pretty much in agreement with him: the main argument is for … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 34 Comments

A Few Items

Posted on February 28, 2019 by woit

A few things that may be of interest: The Perimeter Institute has a new director, Rob Myers, succeeding Neil Turok. Myers is very much a mainstream theorist, and Perimeter over the years has been converging with the mainstream, from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Swampland, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Mathematical Question From Which All Answers Flow

Posted on February 19, 2019 by woit

I’m beginning to suspect that there are actually (at least) two different theoretical HEP physicists named Nima Arkani-Hamed out there. One of them (who I’ll call Nima1) believes the way to understand the fundamental nature of physical reality involves extremely … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Various and Sundry

Posted on February 15, 2019 by woit

First a couple of items from Paris: Fields medalist Cédric Villani is campaigning for the position of Mayor of Paris. This Sunday there will be a campaign event/book launch for his new book, Immersion: De la science au Parlement. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Where in the World are SUSY and WIMPs?

Posted on February 10, 2019 by woit

Back in 2017, after it had already become clear that negative LHC results about SUSY and WIMPs had falsified theorist’s most popular scenarios for how to extend the Standard Model, Nima Arkani-Hamed gave a summer school talk to students with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 48 Comments