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Eh, your analogy isn't apt. The problem in physics is that the space of possible theories has been searched so exhaustively that what these physicists are doing
by lanza 4y ago
Eh, your analogy isn't apt. The problem in physics is that the space of possible theories has been searched so exhaustively that what these physicists are doing is just about the only choice.
To make your analogy close to physics -- imagine you found a unicorn horn and can tell from the biological makeup that it is indeed a horn grown from some sort of horse-like mammal. If you searched 99.9999% of the earth for animals that might have grown that horn and found nothing then the best thing to do would be to continue looking within that 0.00001%.
We can't figure out what comes after the standard model of particle physics. But we know it's wrong. e.g. we know black holes exist and something has to happen within them. But we don't have a theory that can predict what that is. e.g. we found a unicorn horn. So we have to desperately search for it.
Hossenfelder is right that it's shitty to have to keep pushing the energy boundaries in which we hope we'll see some interesting behavior. But there's literally nothing else to do. We've searched 99.99999% of earth and there's no unicorn. Do we start denying the existence of the unicorn horn that we're holding?
- ikrenji 4y agoidk the amount of experiments / work vying for funding is far bigger than what can be funded. and if a big chunk of the funds is allocated to building bigger accelerators then a lot of experiments or other work might not get funded. im not saying its better to fund other projects over the next big accelerator or dark matter detector, but i dont think its right to say there is nothing else to do besides that...
- parton 4y agoThere's other physics to do, but it's not fundamental physics. The science questions for which we need accelerators can't be answered any other way.
- BizarroLand 4y ago> The problem in physics is that the space of possible theories has been searched so exhaustively that what these physicists are doing is just about the only choice. Can't say I agree with that one. I think we're capping out on the physics that Einstein and ilk laid out for us to explore. This is an ideal time in the next 20-40 years for a new revolutionary genius to figure out the next big thing. I'm not going to make any sci-fi prognostications but I have a feeling like there's a new threshold to cross coming up, one of those unknown unknowns that we'll suddenly figure out thanks to a flash of insight by the right person being in the right place at the right time kind of things.
- macrolocal 4y agoCounterpoint: there are major unresolved puzzles in symplectic geometry, and every indication is that they touch on deep physics. It could easily take research mathematicians fifty more years to build a clear picture of what's going on.
- parton 4y agoThe state of physics these days is we have 100 physicists of Einstein's calibre alive right now, but not enough experimental data for them to make any headway on fundamental questions. For all we know, someone already published the theory of everything, but because there was no way to test it, it got ignored completely.
- Weneedlead 4y agoThis is the exact problem with modern science. Yes, you really should go and look back at that horn and thoroughly recheck if it really is what it seemed like to people several decades ago.