If Lee Smolin is right, the first half ofThe Trouble with Physics is destined to be forgotten. A decade or two hence, string theory may feel like a fever dream—a kaleidoscopic rush of ideas, some brilliant, some absurd, but the whole ultimately incoherent. If that’s the case, then the details of string theory will become a historical curiosity, as will Smolin’s rebuttals. The second half of the book, however—a heartfelt plea to remake our institutions and our culture to create space for “crazy” scientific ideas—will remain relevant. Success comes at risk of stagnation. I wish for a day when science arrives at the heart of human culture, but that day will also be the first day of science’s decline. Institutionalizing revolutions is oxymoronic, but maybe we can conceive of belief systems as having a natural, gradual expiration date. Truth as an episode, not an epic. 7
Smolin, Lee. The Trouble with Physics. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006. Reviewed May 9, 2025.
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