Sheldon: It is curious that the author of this Aeon article has frozen Wheeler at his second stage, neglecting to mention his final conclusion.
Cosmology
Max Planck on the force behind the universe
A friend now writes to remind us that physics great Max Planck had quite immaterial views on the nature of the universe.
At Aeon: To understand fundamental building blocks of nature, one must think beyond physics
In a debate with four other philosophers of physics, Sebens argued that there are no particles, everything is fields.
At Closer to Truth: Is the universe fine-tuned for life and mind? Well-known scientists respond
Calvert: This is an interesting set of interviews of cosmologists as they uniformly agree that there is essentially no known evidence that supports chance and/or necessity as the best explanation for the fine tuning of the universe for life.
Avi Loeb suggests that the design of life might have been a black hole. Michael Egnor responds
Michael Egnor: Both an intelligent designer (assuming we’re talking about God) and a black hole are supernatural, in the sense that they are not objects in the natural world. This may not surprise you about God, but it is also true of black holes.
Closer to Truth: Are there really extra dimensions?
One can’t help wondering what the notion of many additional dimensions is supposed to do. … By now, you probably get the picture. The side door to “Anything we want to believe is true.”
Rob Sheldon on the recent dark matter claims
Those [theories] that haven’t been disproven yet are the ones that are the least lumpy. Let’s just say that the data are consistent with there being no dark matter lumps at all.
Researchers: Less dark matter than thought?
What if there isn’t any? Maybe we are pursing a phantom? Just a thought.
Reality is looming down on supersymmetry
In pop science media, supersymmetry has been one of the ideas that lead to support for a multiverse and all that. So, if it’s in trouble…
Breakthrough in measuring protons does not deliver the hoped-for new physics
Diminishing hope for new physics? That isn’t the triumphant scientism we were told to expect.
Researchers: Black holes are collapsed universes
Robitzski: “It suggests our entire universe might just look like any other tiny black hole bubble to an outside observer.”
There is more than one kind of dark energy?
Paul Sutter: By allowing for multiple quantum fields to generate dark energy, it might be possible for string theory to still be relevant in our universe, as these models may not be stuck in the “swampland.”
Jonathan Bartlett on what’s wrong with claims that we live in a sim universe
Bartlett: Even if you could make a perfect simulation of reality, it would have to be a smaller reality than what you’re simulating it with.
Peter Woit, whom we sometimes follow because he is fun, looks back on string theory
He doesn’t seem to get the fact that string theory was a religious movement that was bound to end badly. The most distressing victim is science. But then that was well before the war on math, wasn’t it?
Will black holes really break physics?
Physicist: You see, the black hole isn’t just eating matter and belching radiation, it is reversing entropy. This shouldn’t be possible.