Higher Speculations
by Helge Kragh · first published 2011
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2HN commenters
2015–2019first – last mentioned
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Throughout history, people have tried to construct "theories of everything": highly ambitious attempts to understand nature in its totality. This account presents these theories in their historical contexts, from little known hypotheses from the past to modern developments such as the theory of superstrings, the anthropic principle and ideas of many universes, and uses them to problematize the limits of scientific knowledge. Do claims to theories of everything belong to science at all? Which are the epistemic standards on which an alleged scientific theory of the universe--or the multiverse--i
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A great book on good physics which did not pan out is http://www.amazon.com/Higher-Speculations-Theories-Revolutio... Vortex theory was very cool, but not how the world worked.
on “Earth Might Have Hairy Dark Matter” ↗…are at least a few years old, so these aren’t timely recommendations. On the list for next year: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language Essays of Montaign Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers Higher Speculations: Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology The Enigma of Reason Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind Impro Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China…
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗