Far out cosmology: Steinhardt musings (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, December 04, 2014, 17:43 (3640 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by dhw, Thursday, December 04, 2014, 18:08

DAVID: He doubts inflation and multiverse as non-answers. Still hopes superstring theory might work, but admits 30 years of almost no progress.:-http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2014/12/01/physicist-paul-steinhardt-sl...-Thank you for a wonderfully refreshing article, which basically boils down to the fact that nobody has a clue about the true nature of the universe. I was particularly struck by two passages, the first of which bothers me somewhat, while the second made me laugh out loud with admiration and approval:-1) “Scientific ideas should be simple, explanatory, predictive. The inflationary multiverse as currently understood appears to have none of those properties."-I don't know why scientific ideas should be simple. It's pretty clear from all these unsatisfactory theories that the universe and life itself are far from simple. Quantum theory emphasizes the point. And why should scientific ideas be predictive if the reality they are meant to explain is unpredictable?
 
2) Horgan: In the 1980s, Stephen Hawking suggested that physics might someday provide such satisfying answers that the field would end. Do you - or did you ever - share this hope?
Steinhardt: No. I tend to feel that every answer generates more questions, and my hope is that this continues.
Horgan: Are you religious? Can you be a physicist and also believe in God?
Steinhardt: I never answer the first question because I consider religion to be a private matter. My scientific views stand on their own and I would like them to be evaluated independent of my private views about religion.
In answer to your second question, it is a demonstrated fact that successful physicists can believe in God.-Three answers that bring joy to my agnostic heart!