Then again, seeing Brian Greene trying to do The Hustle might be worth it.

The Panthropic Principle

The existence of intelligent observers can only occur in universes where the physical constants are such that the ratio of the size (area) of the universe at the time of the emergence of those observers and whatever the local equivalent of the planck size (the smallest area where bitwise distinctions can be made) within that universe is very large.

Elliot

Tenure is an acceptable substitute, however. I’ll happily cede all my rights regarding this matter in exchance for a tenured position.

Tenure-track may also be acceptable. We can negotiate on that point.

http://realityconditions.blogspot.com/2006/06/sean-carroll-on-string-wars.html

So not only I have a priority claim on the meme (unless you can produce your email dated earlier) but also I can sue you for plagiarism because your title for this post is suspiciously similar to the one I used for that one… So all your money, and Scott’s, belongs to me now. Mhuahuahuhuahua!

That string theory has survived so far is not due to some unusual absence of ethics among theorists. It has survived because of the absence of alternatives that produce good results. As far as matching up with experiment, (which is the driving force behind all physics), I’m convinced that link quantum gravity is as useless as string theory, but string theory got there first, and so gets more dollars. I would think that what destroys string theory will be something coming out of phenomenology, something that simply gives an easier way of calculating things.

@book{Press:94,
author = {W. H. Press and B. P. Flannery and S. A. Teukolsky and W. T. Vetterling},
title = {Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing},
publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
year = 1994,
edition = {Second},
address = {Cambridge},
jasnote = {Section 14.0 ”If a statistic falls in a reasonable part of the distribution, you must not make the mistake of concluding that the null hypothesis is `verified’ or `proved.’ That is the curse of statistics, that it can never prove things, only disprove them! At best, you can substantiate a hypothesis by ruling out, statistically, a whole long list of competing hypotheses, every one that has ever been proposed. After a while your adversaries and competitors will give up trying to think of alternative hypotheses, or else they will grow old and die, and then your hypothesis will become accepted. Sounds crazy, we know, but that’s how science works!”}, }

The fanthropic principle.

Nevertheless though, you probably ought to receive credit for being the first to use the term, “String Backlash,” which–in my opinion–is a more accurate description of what’s actually taking place in the arena of quantum gravity.

By the way, Aaron’s critique of “Not Even Wrong” is–by far–the best of the bunch.