We like Columbia mathematician Peter Woit here because he seems to be both honest and sane, two qualities that are very useful but are not always found together:
With reference to legitimate concerns about the end of science, he writes,
The really odd thing about the review is that Gribbin uses the multiverse to argue that John Horgan’s claims about physics in The End of Science are wrong. This is just bizarre. Gribbin and his multiverse mania for untestable theories provides strong ammunition for Horgan, since it’s the sort of thing he was warning about. Actually, I don’t recall anything in Horgan’s book about the multiverse, and suspect the idea that physics would end up embracing such an obviously empty idea was something that even he didn’t see coming. As the multiverse mania gains strength, physicists are blowing past the “End of Science” to something that has left conventional science completely behind.
Woit probably doesn’t even know that some researchers are now claiming that human evolution is best explained by our descent from a pig-chimp hybrid.
In that case, we don’t know anything about human evolution.
Oh, he says this about Templeton:
The symposium was co-sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, with no theology or religion in sight. I think they’re mostly these days keeping the physics/math and theology apart, with this symposium and FQXI two good examples, and I’m happy to see that. My other main complaint about Templeton was always that they were pushing multiverse research since that fit into their agenda. These days I don’t see them doing so much of that, with multiverse mania being driven by much more dangerously influential sources. But maybe I’m less critical of them because they invited me to a very nice dinner after the talks…
Well, you can’t be crazy all the time, even if you are rich.