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The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law
Basic Books
October 2006
On Sale: September 30, 2006
304 pages
ISBN: 0465092756
EAN: 9780465092758
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Has physics gone off in the wrong direction? Peter Woit
presents the other side of the growing debate on string
theory--arguing that it's not even science At what point does theory depart the realm of testable
hypothesis and come to resemble something like aesthetic
speculation, or even theology? The legendary physicist
Wolfgang Pauli had a phrase for such ideas: He would
describe them as "not even wrong," meaning that they were so
incomplete that they could not even be used to make
predictions to compare with observations to see whether they
were wrong or not. In Peter Woit's view, superstring theory is just such an
idea. In Not Even Wrong, he shows that what many physicists
call superstring "theory" is not a theory at all. It makes
no predictions, even wrong ones, and this very lack of
falsifiability is what has allowed the subject to survive
and flourish. Not Even Wrong explains why the mathematical conditions for
progress in physics are entirely absent from superstring
theory today and shows that judgments about scientific
statements, which should be based on the logical consistency
of argument and experimental evidence, are instead based on
the eminence of those claiming to know the truth. In the face of many books from enthusiasts for string
theory, this book presents the other side of the story.
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