Debate on String Theory
Recently there were active debates on string theory, by Peter Woit in his book and by Lee Smolin in his book . Joe Polchinski recently joined this debate and wrote a article about it. The article will be released by American Sceintists but you can read it before head on Cosmic Variance. Joe has posted his article as a guest blogger.
Frankly speaking, though I do study string theory, I do not support string theory nor I am against it. I am more interested in mathematical physics, so I do not care whether string theory is wrong or right. I just care whether it is beautiful or not.
Then, you are kind of abitrator? Quick question: what’s beauty in mathematics? for me, it sounds like algebraic structure.
Well, yes. It’s like the feeling when you see other beauty, it depends on who sees it. I usually count the mathematical structure and who natural and well structured the theory is.