 Nonetheless, the derivation of the Bekenstein entropy by the counting of “microstates” has become something of a sine qua non for programs of quantum gravity, even if only for the special case of extremal black holes: if one cannot do it from something like the first principles of one's program, no one will take you seriously. This is noteworthy because it poses a prima facie problem for traditional accounts of scientific method, and underscores the difficulties faced by fundamental physics today, that in many important areas it cannot make contact with empirical data at all. How did a theoretically predicted phenomenon, derived by combining seemingly incompatible theories in a novel way so as to extend their reach into regimes that we have no way of testing in the foreseeable future, become the most important touchstone for testing novel ideas in theoretical physics? Can it play that role? Philosophers have not yet started to grapple seriously with these issues. 