Eric Weinstein

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@sepfahimi There is merit within it. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@alexandrosM Pardon me…but who are you? — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@MartinDevon And I have generally stayed out of it. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

This put me in a bad spot. They should work it out in private. But, increasingly, I don’t see anyone else valuing the pre internet collegiality and civility among peers who disagree the way I do. So I appear to be the odd man out. I’m learning to accept this.. There you have it. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

Bottom line: “Doesn’t anyone know how to fight as a group anymore?” is the thought I can’t stop thinking. Throwing friends and family under the bus because of loyalty to the public is not something towards which I ever want to be pushed. I love both Bret & Sam. I don’t get this. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

Interpersonal drama is destroying our world because it turns all conversation into an internet version of Reality TV, but with real people. And I wish folks would stop building audience around interpersonal drama between folks. It’s so destructive compared to ideas or real work. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

As for “family first”, that’s my general rule. I’m backward like that. Throw me in “progressive jail” for having a hierarchy of loyalty. But whether family or close friends, I expect the same loyalty & civility in return. I mostly live off line and advise others to do likewise. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

As many inferred, I wasn’t happy about “Dark Horse” making dismissive internet-level commentary about “Making Sense” having “TDS”. I was further unhappy about the response of “Making Sense” podcast casting aspersions in return. But I don’t owe the internet what’s privately said. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@martinmbauer Seiberg/Witten/Dijkgraaf/Maldacena All string folks. Maybe get a string theorist to admit this to you. Brian Greene likely wouldn’t disagree with me. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@martinmbauer I don’t know which version of “The Field” you mean. Physics in total? Is a large field. Beyond the standard model theory? Is a small field. Tiny. But hugely consequential. And the percentage and effect wasn’t small. Do you really dispute this??? Look at the IAS professors. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@DontsitDJ @martinmbauer I love a good critique. It’s hard to find. Most people out here develop a side hustle in interpersonal drama. I try not to. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@DontsitDJ @martinmbauer I wasn’t aware of it like that. I think he disagrees with me and has a bit of an edge. But maybe I missed a tweet or two. I haven’t seen much interaction and he has written some things I liked. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@martinmbauer String theory was a giant percentage of a tiny priesthood. That was the same tiny priesthood that brought us Thermo Nuclear devices. And if you want to pay for me to research the numbers I’m willing to hire somebody to put together the data after 1984. It’s not usually contested. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

And we need our brilliant failed string theorists to admit the disaster within a scientific paradigm. Science is a culture. Perhaps the most fragile one. It won’t survive this suspension of collegiality, decency and self-critical behavior. We need to go back to real physics. 🙏 — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

But it is also so thoroughly investigated and badly behaved relative to scientific norms that it deserved to be shrunk. And that happened to a large extent already. The most important thing to realize is that physics is still about the physical world. Not Calabi Yau. Not AdS/CFT. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

So to sum up: String Theory deserves to be a major branch. But it has already mostly given up on the ‘80s promises/lies it told us to gobble up all the resources of the community (brains, mind share, $$$). That was a crime which may prove fatal to our being able to do physics. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

The damage to the culture of High Energy Physics is more severe than the damage done by Geoffery Chew in a different era. And here I support @skdh, Peter Woit, Lee Smolin etc. These are brave people who paid with abuse to communicate that physics was diverting into pure fantasy. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

So, here’s my analysis. In a world where David Gross, Ed Witten, Lenny Susskind, Cumrun Vafa, Michio Kaku had a public Come To Jesus moment where they admitted the disaster in front of the community faithful, I’d be up for having ST as a major theory. But without that I’m unsure. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

During that time String Theory diverted the entire field into a magical never-land of “toy physics”. Models that aren’t in any way real. You now have “particle physicists” at the end of their careers who have never worked with anything like a particle and can’t remember them. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

During that time String Theory diverted the entire field into a magical never-land of “toy physics”. Models that aren’t in any way real. You know have “particle physicists” at the end of their careers who have never worked with anything like a particle and can’t remember the SM. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

The problem is that string theory on its own has taken the last 40years to PROVE it doesn’t work as a stand alone path by gobbling up mind share, students, resources and (to be fair) most of the most brilliant brains. So much that no one dares say the full extent of the disaster. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

Here is where I respectfully disagree with my colleague @skdh. You can’t ‘get rid of string theory’. String-like objects are natural and have an unbelievably rich and beautiful interlocking mathematics. The beguiling beauty isn’t the problem in my opinion. Beauty is the excuse. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

It really depends. Being totally honest: “String Theory” has done a *tremendous* amount of good while “String Maximalism” has done even more harm. If the String Theorists who led the movement were to undo some of the damage by admitting what happened, it’d be a major positive. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@HDRetrovision 👍 — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

Moral: I’m getting depressingly good at the block button. Not because I don’t value real critique. But because the negative comments generally aren’t really reasoned critique. If you are confused, here is a simple rule of thumb: critique is generally constructive feedback. Thx. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

This poll is invalid because: — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

Q: What is the greatest percentage of your yearly income that you would voluntarily forgo if it would ensure an indefinite future for the generations of your family’s descendants that you will never meet? — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@cvaldary But I agree with your question and its importance. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@cvaldary It has to do with small families in the absence of meaning ascribed to “eternal life” through one’s descendants rather than one’s somatic existence. Which has to do with religion for most people. — PolitiTweet.org

Eric Weinstein @EricRWeinstein

@bthomasBooks Wrong analogy. “The problem wasn’t German Industrial organization. It was Nazism.” would be what you are trying to get at. I don’t love it…but I hope that helps make the point a bit clearer. — PolitiTweet.org