Posts

The Portal Podcast #015: Garrett Lisi – My Arch-nemesis, Myself

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Garrett Lisi, the so called "Surf Bum with a Theory of Everything (or T.O.E.)", is a PhD theoretical physicist who has refused to be captured by the theoretical physics community. By making shrewd investments, he has avoided holding…

Advice for Beginners: Choosing Your Arch-Nemesis to Last a Lifetime.

Most people only see arch-nemeses in movies. Thus, as a luxury item or a bucket-list entry they are surprisingly satisfying as so few people have one. In this video I go into some of the thinking that lead me to choosing my arch-nemesis…

Eric on Big Think: Why Can’t We Find the Theory of Everything? Einstein, Rogue Genius, String Theory

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Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized our view of the universe, positing a space-time continuum undergirding all reality. Equally impactful has been quantum mechanics, which describe the behavior of subatomic particles in ways that…

M-theory / String Theory is the Only Game in Town

WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT? M-theory / String Theory is the Only Game in Town If one views science as an economist, it would stand to reason that the scientific theory that should be first retired would be the one…

Was Feynman right when he said “If you give more money to theoretical physics, it doesn’t do any good if it just increases the number of guys following the comet head”?

This essay was originally published in 2013 on https://www.quora.com [Note added in response to comment: I am responding here to Feynman's suggestion in the second half of the quote that the *only* way to make progress is to encourage…