The Barriers to Progress in Physics

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Physicists have developed an effective quantum field theory up to a very, very high energy scale. Almost every working physicist is convinced the theory is not right or at least that it's not complete. So we have a theory that the data is not telling us but which we don't think is right. It's certainly part of some bigger and better theory that we don't have yet.

Physics is in crisis, what else is new? That's what we hear in certain corners, anyway, usually pointed at "fundamental" physics of particles and fields. (Condensed matter and biophysics etc. are just fine.) In this solo podcast I ruminate on the unusual situation fundamental physics finds itself in, where we have a theoretical understanding that fits almost all the data, but which nobody believes to be the final answer. I talk about how we got here, and argue that it's not really a "crisis" in any real sense. But there are ways I think the academic community could handle the problem better, especially by making more space for respectable but minority approaches to deep puzzles.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/31/245-solo-the-crisis-in-physics/

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