… physicists should recognize that time is real.
From his article inNew Scientist:
No single feature of our universe is more in need of explanation than the forward march of time, yet physics and cosmology have so far failed to explain this basic fact of nature. It’s time for a radical approach. We need a new starting point for explaining the directionality of time. – “It’s time physics recognised that time is real” (paywall)
Here are Smolin’s views on the scientific method.
New Scientist has featured some remarkable ideas on time, including “Time need not end in the multiverse” (2011) and “Beyond space-time: Welcome to phase space” (2011), but we don’t think Dr. Smolin will have trouble keeping up. He has just recently authored a book, Time Reborn, of which a reviewer has said,
Before I can even begin a review of the book, I do feel that a bit of background must be provided on the scientific context in which this book appears. Smolin is a prominent if controversial figure within the theoretical physics community, well known for work on the cutting edge of our knowledge and promoting that work directly to the general public well before it has become widely accepted within the physics community itself.
Well, we can say too things about the book in advance: It is bound to be fun and it won’t be on the exam. 😉