CAN OF WORMS COMMUNISM
" . . . Strings 2026 was held last week in Beijing. Looking through the talks (see here, videos here), I see nothing nothing that looks like a significant new idea or any evidence this isn't a dead field. I watched the public talk by David Gross, which was just bizarre. Much the same talk Gross has been giving for thirty years about string theory unification, with no indication there's any problem with the idea. For detailed discussion of a similar talk 22 years ago, see here. The main difference with that talk is that Gross removed all the slides about how SUSY was about to be found and would vindicate string theory. Gross argues against the "landscape", saying that he thinks there will be some new insight explaining how all the constants of nature emerge from understanding the big bang, but this seems to be backed by nothing except wishful thinking.
Gross started off the talk by complaining that he had had to work hard for the few days before his talk, since he had found that his slides were so old that the file formats now had compatibility problems with current software. I'm completely baffled by how anyone involved in this could think that going to the public with this sort of thing is a good idea.. . ." WOIT
Bad ideas drowning is a terrific spectacle. Just keep a safe distance!
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