[asa] String theory and what that means

The initial question is -- has anyone (particularly Murphy and Moorad)
read Lee Smolin's recent book THE TROUBLE WITH PHYSICS?

If so -- what are your comments?

Lee Smolin addresses the apparent failure (over 25 years) of string
theory and attributes it, at least in part, to the "false consensus"
that arose among its practioners. This, in turn, directed physics to a
very conservative approach to quantum problems, and stifled other
(possibly productive) research.

The first thing I thought of when I read this very interesting book
was the question "does the problem Lee addresses (assuming it is real)
also apply to global warming? To evolution?

For instance, it has been claimed in defense of the IPCC claims that
there have been no peer reviewed articles published in the past 4 or 5
years critical of their primary thesis. Could it be that such articles
do exist but cannot get published because of peer reviews?

A similar question could be made of evolutionary theory.

Note that I'm just playing the part of a skeptic here. Personally I
find the evidences for the fact of evolution and the fact of global
warming both to be overwhelming. But something tells me (at least in
the case of GW) that I am not hearing all the story.

-- 
Burgy
www.burgy.50megs.com
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