smolin article

Posted by Jochen Fromm-3 on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/smolin-article-tp521571p521572.html


Yes, the article is interesting. He complains that
in theoretical physics (at least in high energy physics),
the "contact with experiment disappeared in the 1980s",
when String theory took off. He also says that
"particle physics, and even space-time itself,
emerge as collective phenomena". I think he has
the right ideas. Smolin is famous for his attempt to
apply the principles of evolution to cosmology
(for example in "The Life of the Cosmos"). He should
look in this direction: evolution, emergence, complexity.
We have nearly reached the limits of the very large
and the very small. One of the last real frontiers
of science is the complexity we see in everyday life.
The frontier Stephen Wolfram tries to unravel with his
"new kind of science".

Now that we have fast networks of computers,
we can explore the border of complexity.
John D. Barrow says in his book "Impossibility:
The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits"
(Oxford University Press, 1998), that the exploration
of complex systems is like climbing mountains:
"Only fast computers can take us into the realm
of long deep truths. It is like combing mountains.
The unaided rambler cannot ascend very far; the
climber aided by ropes and tools can go much further;
and the rarefied heights require yet more artificial
aids: oxygen, special clothing, and food."

In the case of complex systems, these artificial
aids are computers (for very complex systems
clusters and distributed systems, i.e. computers
distributed over a network that work together as
a unified system).

Just as telescopes allow us to recognize large
scale structures, or microcopes and particle
accelerators allow us to resolve tiny structures,
computers allows us to investigate more complex
structures. They allow us to look further and
deeper beyond the border of complexity, the
border which distinguishes between the things we
can comprehend without artificial aids, and
those who remain elusive without.

-J.