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I agree with you there are so many areas still vastly unexplored, fluid dynamics or the whole area of complex systems is definitely a prime example. Stephen Haw
by cycomanic 4y ago
I agree with you there are so many areas still vastly unexplored, fluid dynamics or the whole area of complex systems is definitely a prime example. Stephen Hawkins called his inaugural lecture "Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?" suggesting that we are very close to the end of theoretical discoveries.
Although less famous I would argue that prediction was just as wrong as "640kB should be enough for everyone", lots of extremely fundamental discoveries had been made since then, and we don't seem to significantly closer to a theory of everything.
- Beldin 4y agoHe discusses in (if memory serves) "A Brief History of Time" whether we will keep on discovering ever-more accurate physical theories, or if there's a theoretical limit. The Planck scale offers a theoretical limit, so there's hope. At any rate, that is how I understood him. Not that we're nearly there, but that our current path of discovery seems finite.
- cycomanic 4y agoTo be honest I have not read his books, but I always had the impression from his talks that he was quite narrow minded in that he largely only meant astro/particle physics when talking about theoretical physics, ignoring many areas in the process. Also worth noting that the book came out 10 years after his lecture, so he probably revised his views during that time.