Lee Smolin - Controversy

Controversy

The 2006 publication of The Trouble with Physics generated debate about the merits of string theory. The book was criticized by the physicist Joseph Polchinski and a blogger called Luboš Motl.

In his earlier book Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2002), Smolin stated that loop quantum gravity and string theory were essentially the same concept seen from different perspectives. In that book, he also favored the holographic principle. The Trouble with Physics, on the other hand, was strongly critical of the prominence of string theory in contemporary theoretical physics, which he believes has suppressed research in other promising approaches. Smolin suggests that string theory suffers from serious deficiencies and has an unhealthy near-monopoly in the particle theory community. He called for a diversity of approaches to quantum gravity, and argued that more attention should be paid to loop quantum gravity, an approach Smolin has devised. Finally, The Trouble with Physics is also broadly concerned with the role of controversy and the value of diverse approaches in the ethics and process of science.

Smolin's thesis found support in one corner. In the same year that The Trouble with Physics was published, Peter Woit published a book for nonspecialists whose conclusion was similar to Smolin's, namely that string theory was a fundamentally flawed research program.