#246 – Peter Woit: Theories of Everything and Why String Theory is Not Even Wrong

Peter Woit is a theoretical physicist, mathematician, critic of string theory, and author of the popular science blog Not Even Wrong. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Peter’s website: http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/
Peter’s blog: https://bit.ly/3xCwm9F
Not Even Wrong (book): https://amzn.to/3peDzZs
Quantum Theory, Groups, and Representations (book): https://amzn.to/316iAjf
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00)– Introduction
(07:22)– Physics vs mathematics
(21:51)– Beauty of mathematics
(43:42)– String theory
(1:12:15)– Theory of everything
(1:32:23)– Twistor theory and spinors
(1:48:50)– Nobel Prize likelihood for theory of everything
(1:52:36)– Simulating physics
(1:56:07)– Sci-Fi, aliens and space
(2:05:19)– Responsibility of scientists