7 ms·
String theory reminds me of the beta-amyloid theory for Alzheimer’s. Both have sucked up all of the research and funding into a likely dead end. Worse, they’ve
by jiggawatts 2y ago
String theory reminds me of the beta-amyloid theory for Alzheimer’s. Both have sucked up all of the research and funding into a likely dead end.
Worse, they’ve both managed to exclude those trying to work on alternatives, partly because to go against these in-vogue approaches is to go against famous scientists with name recognition and funding control.
- NotYourLawyer 2y agoIt’s a good comparison. Sad how faddish science can be.
- alecst 2y agoIs the beta amyloid theory wrong? I read a review paper on this and the science was unclear. I think the point was that all AD patients had a pretty heavy amyloid burden, but not the converse. Feel free to send me some reading.
- dekhn 2y agoNobody seems to be able to answer the key question whether it's a marker, or a driver.
- prpl 2y agoString theory may have some undue mindshare, which is probably a bigger problem frankly, but it most definitely is not sucking up the research money.
- tetromino_ 2y agoI don't see much in common between the development of string theory and the development of beta-amyloid theory besides the fact that both are theories and both are currently seen as lacking experimental support. > sucked up all of the research and funding I find this rather hard to believe in the case of string theory. (To be a string theorist, you need funding for a pencil and some paper.)
- orwin 2y agoNowadays yes, but between the 80s and early 2010s, string theory captured a lot of funding.
- Ygg2 2y agoIt's not hard to see why beta amyloid (BA) build up is the cause. It's very easy to understand. You open Alzheimer's patients, you see BA everywhere.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]