Hossenfelder, author of Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, asks, how far down the universe can we realistically go?
In summary, history does not support particle physicists’ belief that a deeper understanding of natural law will most likely come from studying shorter distances. On the very contrary, I have begun to worry that physicists’ confidence in methodological reductionism stands in the way of progress. That’s because it suggests we ask certain questions instead of others. And those may just be the wrong questions to ask.
If you believe in methodological reductionism, for example, you may ask what dark energy is made of. But maybe dark energy is not made of anything. Instead, dark energy may be an artifact of our difficulty averaging non-linear equations.
It’s similar with dark matter. The methodological reductionist will ask for a microscopic theory and look for a particle that dark matter is made of. Yet, maybe dark matter is really a phenomenon associated with our misunderstanding of space-time on long distances. …
The root of our problem may instead be that quantum theory itself must be replaced by a more fundamental theory, one that explains how quantization works in the first place.
Sabine Hossenfelder, “Has Reductionism Run its Course?” at BackRe(Action)
She definitely does not think that looking for shorter distances and smaller particles is the answer.
See also: Sabine Hossenfelder Explains The Problem With The “Many Worlds” Hypothesis
and
Rob Sheldon Responds To Sabine Hossenfelder On The Hologram Universe
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