Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth by Jim Baggott (PDF)

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From acclaimed science author Jim Baggott, a pointed critique of modern theoretical physics. In this stunning new volume, Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles, superstrings, the multiverse, the holographic principle, or the anthropic cosmological principle. These theories are not only untrue, it is not even science. It is fairy-tale physics: fantastical, bizarre and often outrageous, perhaps even confidence-trickery. This book provides a much-needed antidote. Informed, comprehensive, and balanced, it offers lay readers the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy. With its engaging portraits of many central figures of modern physics, including Paul Davies, John Barrow, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking, and Leonard Susskind, it promises to be essential reading for all readers interested in what we know and don’t know about the nature of the universe and reality itself.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Baggott has done something that I would have thought impossible in a popular book. He navigates successfully between the Scylla of mathematical rigor and the Charybdis of popular nonsense.” – The Wall Street Journal“In consistently accessible and intelligent prose, Baggott sympathetically captures the frustrations of physicists while laying out a provocative―and very convincing―plea for a reality check in a field that he feels is now too “meta” for its own good.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW“Intellectually gratifying.” – The Economist About the Author Jim Baggott is an award-winning science writer. A former academic chemist, he maintains a broad interest in science, philosophy, and history, and writes on these subjects for New Scientist and other journals. His books have been widely acclaimed and include A Beginner’s Guide to Reality (Pegasus, 2006), The First War of Physics (Pegasus, 2010), The Meaning of Quantum Physics (Oxford, 1992), and Beyond MeasureModern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (Oxford, 2004). He lives in England.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I found it difficult to review Jim Baggott’s book because there is so much information in it and because of the way it is organized. Chapter 1 starts off with six “principles of reality” that can be summarized by the statement that reality is fundamentally abstract and metaphysical; i.e, we don’t perceive reality directly, but through sets of facts that are presented by theories. A theory is deemed to be true if the facts it presents match up with measurements. For example, a granite slab appears to be hard and heavy. The atomic theory holds that the slab is a collection of atoms, which are mostly empty space. The parts of the atoms that aren’t empty space are comprised of elementary particles that could just as easily be thought of as sets of quantum numbers. So the challenge of atomic theory is to explain what makes the quantum numbers appear to be hard and heavy like a slab of granite. The author refers back to the “six principles of reality” repeatedly throughout the book.The book is divided into two parts. Part I begins with Chapter 2, and is a grand tour of facts that the scientific method has uncovered over the past couple of centuries. Collectively, the author calls this body of knowledge “authorized reality.” Included in this grand tour is special and general relativity, quantum physics, the standard model of particle physics, and the standard model of cosmology, which includes the big bang, inflation, dark matter and dark energy – a lot of information. Chapter 3 delves into the topic symmetry and how particle physicists use symmetry breaking to explain all of the fundamental particles in the standard model. This topic is apparently one of Jim Baggott’s specialties, because he spends a lot of time on it. Unfortunately, to casual readers like me who aren’t experts on U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) symmetry will find this chapter very rough going. I skipped over most of it because it was completely over my head. It seems that the author considers the Higgs field/particle as part of “authorized reality” because it fits into the standard model of particle physics and can be explained through symmetry breakage. (For a contrary view, refer to “The Higgs Fake” by Alexander Unzicker.) However, inexplicably, Baggott also considers dark matter to be real, even though it doesn’t fit into the standard model at all. I consider this position strange and rather inconsistent.Part I concludes with the startling statement that Baggott considers everything in “authorized reality” as fundamentally true, yet it isn’t quite right. Huh? I think this statement deserves a bit more explaining, but there isn’t any. Maybe reality has degree of “truthiness” in the Stephen Colbert sense. At any rate, we are left hanging at this point where the book inexplicably launches into Part II, entitled “The Grand Delusion.”Part II is the reason the book is entitled “Farewell to Reality.” It hammers away at “junk science” and “fairy tale science,” which are defined as any and all theories that aren’t included as part of the “authorized reality” described in Part I. This section begins with Chapter 7, which gets into the dreaded topic of symmetry for a second time. Here, there is more of the highly confusing U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) terminology that is still left unexplained. I struggled to understand how all of this applies to junk science. It seems that carrying symmetry to an extreme leads to supersymmetry (SUSY), which is considered “junk.” On the other hand, the standard model, which is also based on a symmetry approach, is considered “real.” Go figure.In Chapter 10, the author takes a stab at debunking the holographic principle as “fairy tale science.” He takes us through a brief tutorial on quantum information and black holes. Unfortunately, his treatment of information and entropy is a bit muddled. Like many other authors of popular science books, Baggott fails to properly identify the relationship between information and entropy (hint: they’re essentially the same thing), and conflates order with information (they’re actually opposites, because perfectly ordered systems lack information). On Page 251 he states, “To an observer watching from a safe distance, high-entropy material (for some reason in these scenarios this is nearly always an unfortunate astronaut) approaches the event horizon.” Astronauts are not “high-entropy material.” Astronauts are highly-ordered systems that have very low entropy. They will, however, become high-entropy material after falling into a black hole and having their atoms scrambled. But enough nitpicking.In Chapter 11, Baggott comes down particularly hard on string theory and the multiverse concept, which Leonard Susskind and others seem to think solves the fine-tuning problem of the universe. I happen to agree that applying the anthropic principle to “prove” the existence of a multiverse is highly questionable; however, I think this book could have done a much better job of exposing the psuedo-bayesian fallacy behind it. Here’s how the fallacy actually operates: Let O be some observation and let H1 and H2 be two hypotheses that could account for O. Let P(O|H1) be the probability that O occurs given H1 is true, and let P(O|H2) be the probability that O occurs given H2 is true. If P(O|H2) > P(O|H1) then the argument is that H2 is more likely than H1. Applying this argument to support the multiverse, O is the observation that the universe is “fine tuned” for intelligent life, H1 proposes a single universe with a random set of physical parameters, and H2 proposes a multiverse with many (up to 10^500) universes, each with a different random set of parameters. If H2 is true, then it is likely (almost certain) that one of these random sets will produce O, whereas if H1 is true, then it is very unlikely that O will occur. Therefore, H2 (the multiverse) is a much more likely explanation than H1 (a single universe). The fallacy behind this argument is simple: P(O|H1) and P(O|H2) have nothing at all to do with the probabilities that H1 and H2 are true; in other words P(O|H2)>P(O|H1) does not imply P(H2)>P(H1) because this argument is based on the unproven assumption that H2 is true; you are still left with the burden of showing that H2 is actually true.The book ends on a rather sour note. Part II arrives at the conclusion that the scientific method has led humanity down a blind alley, and scientific progress has stalled. This would be a tremendous opportunity to offer Part III that explores exactly why this state of affairs exists, and how we can kick start the scientific method and get back on track. My personal belief is that material reductionism applied to linear systems needs to be replaced by a completely different paradigm based on self-organizing principles applied to non-linear systems. I would love to know what Jim Baggott thinks the problem is, but unfortunately he didn’t tell us. I’m hopeful that the missing Part III will appear in a later volume.I gave “Farewell to Reality” three stars because although it presented a wealth of information, it stopped far short of completing the task. But despite its many flaws, I still consider it to be a thought-provoking book that was worth reading.https://sites.google.com/site/amateurscientistessays/

⭐Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth by Jim Baggott”Farewell to Reality” is a critical book of the current state of affairs of modern theoretical physics. Award-winning science writer and former scientist, Jim Baggott questions the veracity for many of the “fairy-tale” ideas proposed by modern theoretical physics. “The stuff is not only not true, it is not even science.” The author describes what modern physics can reasonably say about the nature of our physical reality and where it has abandoned the scientific method. Theoretical physics is difficult and this book will test your patience but ultimately the author succeeds in making clear where theoretical physicists have gone astray and its implications. This challenging 336-page includes the following twelve chapters: 1. The Supreme Task, 2. White Ambassadors of Morning Light, Quantum Theory and the Nature of Reality, 3. The Construction of Mass Matter, Force and the Standard Model of Particle Physics, 4. Beautiful Beyond Comparison, 5. The (Mostly) Missing Universe, 6. What’s Wrong with this Picture?, 7. Thy Fearful Symmetry, 8. In the Cemetery of Disappointed Hopes, 9. Gardeners of the Cosmic Landscape, 10. Source Code of the Cosmos, 11. Ego Sum Ergo, and 12. Just Six Questions.Positives:1. Well-researched and well-written book.2. Good format. Each chapter begins with a chapter-appropriate quote from Albert Einstein.3. Fair and even-handed. The author does a wonderful job of not overstepping his bounds. He is a defender of good science and that includes being able to say I don’t know over wild speculations presented as plausible theories.4. The current state of modern theoretical physics clearly stated. “Speculative theorizing of a kind that cannot be tested, that cannot be verified or falsified, a kind that is not subject to the mercilessness of the scientific method, is now almost common currency.”5. Does a good job of defining what science is all about. “Science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.”6. Baggott provides six principles about reality, science and truth. They principles define what it is that we apply science to, what science is and how we think we know when it is “true”.7. The three components of the scientific method discussed.8. The first half of the book focuses on what is good science. The author provides a lot of good information of what is understood in theoretical physics. The science, the theories and the scientists behind them.9. The difference between Newtownian and quantum physics. The difficulties of measurements at the quantum level.10. The forces of nature and the particle zoo. The taxonomy of particles. The origin of mass.11. Special and general theories of relativity. Understanding spacetime. Interesting tidbits on how Einstein came up with some of his great ideas. “`Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to curve.”12. The big bang theory explained. The ironic inception of the term.13. Dark matter and dark energy. “The problem of dark matter demands a solution that lies beyond the current standard model of particle physics.”14. Baggott is not afraid to be critical but is fair about it. “What kind of fundamental theory of particle physics is it that can’t predict the masses of its constituent elementary particles? Answer: one that is not very satisfying.?15. Stephen Hawking and black holes. His battles with other scientists. Interesting stuff.16. The shortcomings of science. “The standard model is a triumph. But don’t be misled. It is not a unified theory of the fundamental atomic and subatomic forces.”17. The disappointment in finding the Theory of Everything. “We assume that a unique eleven-dimensional superstring theory is possible in principle, although we don’t yet know what this theory is.”18. Confronting one of the biggest obstacles in science. “The problems that SUSY, superstring theories and M-theory seek to address pale almost into insignificance compared with one of the most fundamental problems inherent in contemporary physical theory — the quantum measurement problem.”19. Strong conclusions. “I would conclude that the strong anthropic principle is not science”.20. Endnotes and formal bibliography included.Negatives:1. This is a difficult book to read at times. Theoretical physics is very complex and even at its bare-bone it will test your patience and focus.2. More illustrations would have added value.3. The fine-tuning argument could have been handled better. Refer to my further recommendations.In summary, Baggott makes the compelling case that in many instances modern theoretical physics have abandoned the scientific method. He states specifically that in fairy-tale physics the scientists have lost sight of empirical content and as a result can’t make testable predictions. The book at times is very challenging, theoretical physics even at its simplest is very complex and it will test the patience of many laypersons. It will test your resolve but ultimately the author succeeds in making strong arguments in favor of his case. Recommended with reservations noted.Further recommendations: ”

⭐” by David Blatner, ”

⭐” and ”

⭐” by Brian Greene, ”

⭐” by Lawrence M. Krauss, ”

⭐” by Adam Frank, ”

⭐” and “Warped Passages” by Lisa Randall, ”

⭐” by Stephen Hawking, “The Quantum Universe” by Brian Cox, “The Blind Spot” by William Byers, and ”

⭐” and ”

⭐” by Victor Stenger.

⭐I am re-reading this book again for the third time . It’s not an easy subject but the author explains things well – Much of this simply ‘ does your head in ‘ – Travelling at near light speeds , returning to Earth to find that your daughter or son is 30 years older than you ( Time Dilation ) or that you live slightly longer in a basement flat as opposed to the Pent House on the top floor ( Gravitational Time Dilation ) Both are Einstein’s Theories – No absolute time or space. Curved space-time. ‘ Action at a distant ‘ – Instantaneous affect on a waveform millions of miles away ie faster than light . String theory anyone. Quantum mechanics – The more you know – the less you understand

⭐I’m not a physicist but I am interested in physics and scientific theory. I find this book important because it shows the history of the science of physics to some extend and shows how many theoreticians in the field has now ‘left reality’, in the sense that they are making up hypothesis that not even in theory can be tested, and are still asking us to believe them.

⭐This is an excellent study on some unsubstantiated modern theories such as the ‘Many Worlds’ and ‘Multiverse’ theories that have absolutely nothing to support them, not even mathematical support. As Dr Hossenfelder summed the Multiverse theory, it’s based on nothing more than faith.

⭐A good read and still relevant.

⭐James Edward Baggott promovierte in Chemischer Physik, als Wissenschaftsschriftsteller verfasste er bereits eine Reihe populär wissenschaftlichen Bücher zu Themen aus Physik, Philosophie und Geschichte, ferner verfasst er regelmäßig Beiträge für ‘New Scientist’ und ‘Nature’. Der Autor ist unzufrieden mit der Art, in der gelegentlich Neuigkeiten aus der theoretischen Physik, wie die Stringtheorie oder die Idee von Multiversen, einem breiteren Publikum präsentiert werden – ohne zu erwähnen, dass diese Theorien keineswegs unangefochten sind, noch dass für sie keinerlei experimentelle Belege vorliegen, manche dieser Thesen sogar prinzipiell unbelegbar sind und wohl auch bleiben.In seinem vorliegenden Buch möchte Jim Baggott diesem Wildwuchs das gesicherte Weltbild der modernen Physik gegenüber stellen. Er widmet folgerichtig den ersten Teil der ‘authorized version’ der Physik, wie er es nennt – eine etwas unglückliche Bezeichnung, denn schließlich gibt keine Instanz, die über wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zu befinden hätte – angemessen wäre aber sicher, vom etablierten Bild der Physik zu sprechen. Darin gibt der Autor einen kurzen Abriss von Quantenmechanik, Relativitätstheorie und den Standard Modellen der Kosmologie und der Elementarteilchenphysik – also jenen Theorie, die Grundlagen der heutigen Physik ausmachen und deren Erkenntnisse durch gut fundierte Beobachtungsdaten und Experimenten gestützt werden.Diese etablierten Theorien lassen aber eine ganze Reihe von Lücken und Problem offen, darunter sind – wie Baggott feststellt – das Quantenmessungs- Problem, die Tatsache, dass das Standard Modell der Teilchenphysik eiegntlich keine einheitliche Theorie ist, das Hierarchieproblem, d.h. die Kleinheit der Masse des Higgs Bosons , die Natur der Dunklen Materie, der Ursprung der Dunkle Energie, die in Vakuum Fluktuationen vermutet wird, versucht man diese aber zu berechnen, kommt das Ergebnis um 120 Größenordnungen falsch heraus; schließlich blieb auch die Vereinigung von Relativitätstheorie und Quantenmechanik ungelöst.Im zweiten Teil werden diejenigen Versuche erörtert, die die Limitierungen der beiden Standard Modelle zu überwinden versuchen. Zu diesen Versuchen gehören Grand Unified Theories (GUT), Supersymmetrien, Superstring und M- Theorie, alternative Interpretationen der Quantenmechanik führen zur Vorstellungen von Vielen Welten und vom Multiversum – Vorstellung, die oft in Verbindung mit dem Anthropischen Prinzip gebracht werden. All diesen Ansätzen ist leider gemeinsam, dass es für sie keinerlei experimentelle Belege gibt. Tatsächlich wurden seit den 1980iger Jahren keine Phänomene der Teilchenphysik gefunden, die nicht mit dem Standard Modell in Einklang stehen; dabei hatten die Forscher die berechtigte Hoffnung gehegt, dass die Energie des Teilchenbeschleunigers LHC ausreichen könnte, um leichte Superpartner zu erzeugen – leider brachten auch diese Experimente bisher keinen Durchbruch. Der Autor nennt diese Theorien fairy-tale physics (Märchen Physik) – er stimmt damit in die Kritik ein, die schon früher von Lee Smolin (‘The Trouble with Physics’) und Peter Woit (‘Not Even Wrong’) geäußert wurde; neulich auch von Sabine Hossenfelder mit ihrem Buch ‘Lost in Math’.Der Autor gibt mit seiner Darstellung sicher eine gute Einführung in die Probleme, mit denen heutige theoretische Physiker zu kämpfen haben. Seine Forderung nach einer Physik, die sich wieder mehr um ‘Bodenständigkeit’ müht, wird auf dem Hintergrund verständlich, dass manche Physiker und Philosophen sich mit post-empirischen Grundlegungen für ihre Theorie beschäftigen – in Ermangelung von empirische Fakten werden alternative Kriterien, wie logische Konsistenz, Natürlichkeit oder Alternativlosigkeit erwogen – etwa Richard Dawid hat dies systematisch in ‘String Theory and the Scientific Method’ untersucht und sich um eine philosophische Basis bemüht.Aber auch Baggott kann keinen Ausweg aus dem Dilemma aufzeigen. Schließlich ist die vorhandene Theorienlandschaft ganz natürlich gewachsen, eine der wichtigsten Lehren aus der Geschichte der Theoretischen Physik zeigt, dass sich – abgesehen von Paradigmenwechseln – Theorie hin zu höherer Abstraktion und größerer Allgemeinheit entwickeln. Somit war es für Elementarteilchenphysiker durchaus folgerichtig nach dem Abschluss des Standard Models größer Symmetriegruppen zu untersuchen, inwiefern sie zu einer GUT führen, bzw. Supersymmetrien, als größtmögliche Raumzeit Gruppe, zu betrachten. Solange es keine weiteren Hinweise aus den Daten gibt, ist es für Theoretiker sicher sinnvoll, den bisher bewerten Methode beim Ausbau ihrer Theoriengebäuden zu folgen. Man kann auf diese Sondierungsarbeit auch gar nicht verzichten, denn heutige Teilchenphysik- Experimente können in der Regel nicht mehr auf einem Labortisch ausgeführt werden, sie benötigen oft jahre- oder jahrzehntelange Vorbereitungen und Anlage, die zum Teil industrielle Dimensionen erreichen. Zu dem sieht sich die Teilchenphysik heute einer bisher einzigartigen Situation gegenüber, zum ersten mal ist völlig offen, bei welchen nächsten Größenordnung neue Effekte erwartet werden dürfen, abgesehen von der Planck Größenordnung, die aber jenseits aller technischen Möglichkeiten liegt. Angesichts dessen, ist den Physiker sehr wohl bewusst, dass ihre Thesen nur ‘toy models’ darstellen, solange sie nicht mit Daten verglichen werden können.Sogar die Stringtheorie, die nach der Euphorie der 80iger Jahre, als TOE gehandelt wurde, kann heute nicht mehr als Theorie der Elementarteilchen verstanden werden, wie Leonard Susskind es neulich in einem Interview ausdrückte, sie ist aber ein ausgezeichnetes Framework zum Ausprobieren von Ideen zur Vereinigung von Gravitation und Quantenmechanik – einem Framework, das Susskind selbst zum Verständnis und zur Auslösung des von Hawking aufgeworfenen Informationsparadoxon Schwarzer Löcher, verwendet hat. Susskind sieht es als eine der vornehmsten Aufgaben der Theoretiker an, die Paradigmen Kollisionen der aktuellen Theorie zu verstehen und zu beseitigen – es darf nicht hingenommen werden, dass zu einem Phänomen zwei Theorien verschiedene Antworten liefern, denn die Natur lässt auch keine Zweideutigkeiten zu.’Farwell to Reality’ ist also sicher nicht Baggotts bestes Buch, die Darstellung ist unnötig pessimistisch und dogmatisch; die bewerten Selbstregulierungsmechanismen der Naturwissenschaften dürften durchaus genügen, um auch die gegenwärtige ‘Durststrecke’ der fundamentalen Physik zu überwinden. Es bliebt aber sein Verdienst, eine allgemein verständliche Übersicht zur Problematik der gegenwärtigen Theoretischen Physik geschaffen zu haben, die das etablierte Bild der Wissenschaft klar abgrenzt gegen die vielversprechenden, weiterführenden Theorien, deren Grundlegung aber bis heute noch völlig offen geblieben ist.

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