Why String Theory Is Both a Dream and a Nightmare
Whenever science proceeds in advance of experiment, it becomes religion.<p>When people&#x27;s careers are dependent on others taking their ideas seriously, they will proselytize regardless of evidence or lack thereof.<p>I don&#x27;t mind that people enjoy string theory.  I do mind that we offer research positions into it, tenure, grants, and everything else that goes with it.  And spend literally billions of dollars on equipment for ever more ambitious experiments that have turned up nothing.<p>The history of science shows that money spent on research is repaid to society many fold.  However there is an element of prepared serendipity.  Many small grants for many small lines of research are much more likely to produce useful results than a few mega-projects.  If half of what we have spent on particle accelerators was spread out across fluid dynamics, condensed matter physics, and other areas where there are a lot of open questions that are amenable to experiment, how much greater would the returns have been?<p>If you doubt me, consider this.  We spent around $5 billion on the LHC.  Its signature success is the Higgs Boson.  Which came out basically to what theory said, and measurements of which narrowed down a few parameters of the Standard Model.  CERN is already laying plans for the successor, which will cost several times as much.  There is nothing that has happened in the last 50 years which provides evidence that it will find any new particles.<p>How many people can intelligently describe what the Higgs boson is?  An intelligent description should include what symmetry breaking is, what the Higgs boson has to do with it, and why the standard model has so many free parameters.  Of those people, how many can actually explain what we have learned about the rest of the model from the research at the LHC?  Of those people, how many can explain how this improved understanding affects any observable macro phenomena that affects technology?<p>Would it make sense to scrap the planned particle accelerator, and instead give $1 million to every person who <i>actually</i> understands the Standard Model and current research to devote their lives to something else?  I admit that it sounds crazy.  But I&#x27;d take an even money bet that we would both save money and see more useful returns on investment if we took that crazy course.