Dreams of a final theory
by Steven Weinberg · first published 1993
9mentions
6recommended by
7HN commenters
2008–2021first – last mentioned
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible popular-science book by a Nobel physicist on the search for a final theory of physics, with clear discussion of effective field theories and philosophical questions; praised for its articulate writing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I've always liked the dog analogy ever since I came across it in Stephen Weinberg's book Dreams of a Final Theory: "...it may be that humans are simply not intelligent enough to discover or to understand the final theory. It is possible to train dogs to do all sorts of clever things, but I doubt that anyone will…
on “Is There a Limit to Scientific Understanding?” ↗…people seem to have blinded yourself towards: Scientific method, traced back to Aristotle If you want to read what a real scientist has to say about the value that philosophy adds to science, I suggest "Dreams of Final Theory" by Steven Weinberg, chapter 7, "Against philosophy": http://depts.washington.edu/ssnet/Weinberg_SSN_1_14.pdf
on “Death” ↗…energies. Thus the low energy approximations (the effective field theories) have the simple, renormalizable form that we know. There is a good accessible discussion of this in Weinberg's popular science book 'Dreams of a Final Theory'.
on “The Relation Between Mathematics and Physics (1939)” ↗…this, and all I can spare right now is a drive-by comment. Steven Weinberg has some very insightful thoughts on the topic, both generally and specifically in the context of particle physics, in his book “Dreams of a final theory” (chapter 5). If you don’t have access to the book, in a pinch, you could peruse some slides that I made for a discussion: https://speakerdeck.com/sivark/walking-through-weinbergs-dre...
on “Particle mystery: physicists confirm the muon is more magnetic than predicted” ↗I read "Dreams of a Final Theory" as a child, and have been contemplating some of the philosophical questions posed therein ever since. RIP.
on “Steven Weinberg has died” ↗Dreams of a Final Theory was one of the most influential texts that motivated me into theoretical high energy physics. Sad.
on “Steven Weinberg has died” ↗…quantum field theory textbook series is highly respected — he wrought the field piece by piece with his own hands. Finally, he was an extremely articulate writer, and I have a huge soft spot for his “Dreams of a final theory” — especially his comments on the relationship between theory & experiment, and the scientific method more generally. I really wish more people read that and got influenced by its depth and nuance.
on “Steven Weinberg has died” ↗…nature and the universe. To me, that is religion!' But is 'religion' the right word? I don't think so. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist (and atheist) Steven Weinberg made the point as well as anybody, in Dreams of a Final Theory: Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him. One hears it said that 'God is the ultimate' or 'God is our better…
on “Why are geeks often atheist?” ↗…work more useful as a way to tell apart real science from fake science (he gives Marxism as an example of the latter), than as anything that could help real scientists do their jobs. In chapter 7 of "Dreams of a Final Theory", Steven Weinberg argues that philosophy has been mostly useless or even harmful for physicists, and whatever positive effects some philosophical theories might have had, had to do with undoing the harm…
on “The Innumeracy of Intellectuals (2008)” ↗