Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray

by Sabine Hossenfelder

Overview

In this "provocative" book (New York Times), a contrarian physicist argues that her field's modern obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science.


Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades.


The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541646766
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	87,927
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sabine Hossenfelder is a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she studies the phenomenology of quantum gravity. She has published more than fifty research articles on physics, cosmology, and quantum mechanics. She resides in Frankfurt, Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 The Hidden Rules of Physics 1

In which I realize I don't understand physics anymore. I talk to friends and colleagues, see I'm not the only one confused, and set out to bring reason back to Earth.

Chapter 2 What a Wonderful World 17

In which I read a lot of books about dead people and find that everyone likes pretty ideas but that pretty ideas sometimes work badly. At a conference I begin to worry that physicists are about to discard the scientific method.

Chapter 3 The State of the Union 42

In which I sum up ten years of education in twenty pages and chat about the glory days of particle physics.

Chapter 4 Cracks in the Foundations 67

In which I meet with Nima Arkani-Hamed and do my best to accept that nature isn't natural, everything we learn is awesome, and that nobody gives a fuck what I think.

Chapter 5 Ideal Theories 88

In which I search for the end of science but find that the imagination of theoretical physicists is endless. I fly to Austin, let Steven Weinberg talk at me, and realize how much we do just to avoid boredom.

Chapter 6 The Incomprehensible Comprehensibility of Quantum Mechanics 119

In which I ponder the difference between math and magic.

Chapter 7 One to Rule Them All 138

In which I try to find out if anyone would care about the laws of nature if they weren't beautiful. I stop off in Arizona, where Frank Wilczek tells me his little Theory of Something, then I fly to Maui and listen to Garrett List. I learn some ugly facts and count physicists.

Chapter 8 Space, the Final Frontier 171

In which I try to understand a string theorist and almost succeed.

Chapter 9 The Universe, All There Is, and the Rest 195

In which I admire the many ways to explain why nobody sees the particles we invent.

Chapter 10 Knowledge Is Power 222

In which I conclude the world would be a better place if everyone listened to me.

Acknowledgments 237

Appendix A The Standard Model Particles 239

Appendix B The Trouble with Naturalness 241

Appendix C What You Can Do to Help 245

Notes 249

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

"[A] provocative new book."—New York Times

"According to the physicist and prolific blogger Sabine Hossenfelder, Einstein and others who work in a similar way are 'lost in math,' the title of her lively and provocative book."—Wall Street Journal

"Hossenfelder ably mixes simplified explanation of the science with compelling portraits of the fascinating characters who study it."—Vanity Fair

"In her new book, Lost In Math, Sabine Hossenfelder adroitly confronts this crisis head on.... The book is a wild, deep, thought-provoking read that would make any reasonable person in the field who's still capable of introspection doubt themselves."—Forbes

"Lost in Math is self-aware and dosed with acerbic wit, and it asks bold questions."—Nature

"Sabine Hossenfelder's new book Lost in Math provides a well-informed take on the current situation in fundamental physical theory. The author is completely honest, utterly fearless, and often quite funny."—MAA Reviews

"[Hossenfelder's] critical assessment of the field is appropriately timed." —Science

"Eavesdrop on accessible and frank conversations in Hossenfelder's Lost in Math, which wrestles with big questions of quantum mechanics and beauty in a fun, fascinating way."—Popular Science

Choice award for outstanding academic title

"Entertaining and engaging."—Ars Technica

"Hossenfelder's jaunt through the world of theoretical physics explicitly raises the question of whether the activities of thousands of physicists should actually count as 'science.' And if not, then what in tarnation are they doing?"—Weekly Standard (UK)

"Even educated readers will struggle to understand the elements of modern physics, but they will have no trouble enjoying this insightful, delightfully pugnacious polemic about its leading controversy."—Kirkus (starred review)

"This layreader-friendly, amusing treatise gives an enlightening look at a growing issue within physics."—Publishers Weekly

"Emphasizing how much researchers have achieved in quantum mechanics while using math that is decidedly ugly, Hossenfelder urges her colleagues to start focusing on reality, not conceptual style. A provocative appeal for unattractive but fruitful science."—Booklist

"Hossenfelder, a philosophically inclined physicist, presents the informed reader with a fascinating panorama of the current state of physics, replete with imaginative entities like wormholes, parallel universes, and bubbles associated with the baby universe whose existence cannot be established or falsified through standard experimental modes."—CHOICE

"Born too late to savor the heady era when the standard model of particle physics came together, Sabine Hossenfelder is impatient for new waves of discovery. Might the pace of insights be slowing because illusions of mathematical beauty have beguiled her fellow theorists? Lost in Math chronicles her quest—through interviews and conversations—to set her own course for exploration."—Chris Quigg, Distinguished Scientist Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

"Lost in Math is a delight. It is engaging, witty, and utterly profound. If you want to know why so many contemporary theoretical physicists choose to believe unbelievable things, this is a great place to start."—Jim Baggott, author of Farewell to Reality

"Centered around insightful interviews with leading theorists, Lost in Math provides a well-informed take on the current state of fundamental physical theory, from a physicist who is utterly fearless, completely honest, and quite funny."—Peter Woit, mathematical physicist at Columbia University and author of Not Even Wrong

From the Publisher

04/30/2018
Science writer and researcher Hossenfelder argues persuasively that physics has stalled because of a focus on mathematical “elegance” rather than reality. Hossenfelder begins with supersymmetry and the standard model of particle physics, created to explain all the elementary particles discovered in the 20th century. Supersymmetry theory, she writes, is accepted because it fits so well into previous theories. But it also predicts that more particles should be found at energies just above where physicists discovered the Higgs boson, but none have yet been discovered. Though physicists from Newton to Einstein have prized mathematical beauty in theories, Hossenfelder sees this belief as a dangerous limitation. Elegant theories, she observes, don’t explain dark matter and dark energy, or how to find multiverses. Along the way, Hossenfelder introduces an array of important researchers, including stoic Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg and social media-savvy Australian astrophysicist Katherine “Astrokatie” Mack. This layreader-friendly, amusing treatise gives an enlightening look at a growing issue within physics. (June)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2018-04-03
A theoretical physicist delivers an entertaining attack on her profession, arguing that it has fallen in love with theories that bear little relation to reality.In her first book for a popular audience, a "story of how aesthetic judgment drives contemporary research," Hossenfelder (editor: Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity, 2017), a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany, expresses despair that the golden age of physics ended with her parents' generation. By the 1970s, a torrent of Nobel Prizes went to physicists who unified a confusing mélange of subatomic particles into the elegant standard model and did the same for three out of four fundamental forces. While a brilliant achievement, the standard model failed to answer basic questions such as the nature of dark matter and energy, matter-antimatter asymmetry, and the impossibility of quantizing gravity. The author maintains that fashionable new theories addressing these issues are preoccupied with beauty and naturalness to the neglect of actual observation. Thus, supersymmetry solves several problems by predicting dozens of new subatomic particles that the most powerful accelerators have failed to find. String theory seems to explain almost everything, but its basis is pure mathematics, and its postulates are untestable by any conceivable technology. "I can't believe what this once-venerable profession has become," writes Hossenfelder. "Theoretical physicists used to explain what was observed. Now they try to explain why they can't explain what was not observed. And they're not even good at that….But there are so many ways not to explain something." A take-no-prisoners interviewer, the author asks pointed questions of the giants of physics and is not shy about arguing with them.Even educated readers will struggle to understand the elements of modern physics, but they will have no trouble enjoying this insightful, delightfully pugnacious polemic about its leading controversy.

Kirkus Reviews