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cover of episode 15: Garrett Lisi - My Arch-nemesis, Myself.

15: Garrett Lisi - My Arch-nemesis, Myself.

2019/12/6
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Eric Weinstein
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Garrett Lisi
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Eric Weinstein: 本次访谈旨在呈现更接近真实科学过程的讨论，而非公众通常接触到的简化或过时版本。他高度评价Garrett Lisi勇于挑战宇宙终极问题，但对其理论持保留态度。他认为学术界外的人很难得到科研的重视，因此需要有人推动他们的研究。他认为主流学术机构存在思想压制，阻碍新思想的传播和发展，并以弦理论为例说明了这一点。他认为爱因斯坦已经完成了大部分广义相对论的工作，因此广义相对论的研究者较少，而量子力学研究者则更多，导致人才分布不均。他认为弦理论统一计划在30多年的研究后失败了，未能实现其最初的承诺。他认为弦理论的兴起是一个社会学现象，涉及到科学的政治经济学，包括职位、经费和媒体宣传等因素。他认为理论物理学至关重要，因为它试图解答人类存在的意义、物质的构成，并推动了现代经济的发展。他认为理论物理学结合了最美丽的数学和实验的严谨性，是人类智力成就的巅峰。他认为物理宇宙令人惊讶地选择了最神秘、最美丽的数学对象来构建其“源代码”。他认为“万物理论”并非解释日常生活中的一切，而是指对基本物理规律的统一描述。他认为虽然我们对基本粒子的理解取得了进展，但仍需保持谨慎，避免过度自信。 Garrett Lisi: 他最初的研究并非旨在构建“万物理论”，而是源于对现有电子描述的不满。他认为学生们常常被劝退，不要去研究物理学中的基本问题，因为这些问题太难了。他认为几乎没有人真正致力于探索“万物理论”，因为这个问题极其困难，需要极大的勇气和自信。他认为现有对电子的描述方式不令人满意，缺乏优雅性和几何性。他认为宇宙是一个统一的数学对象，其各个方面应该相互协调一致。他认为E8理论并非从一个预设的美丽对象出发，而是从对自旋子的研究中逐步构建起来的。他认为通过研究无限维几何来解决E8理论中存在的问题。他认为他对E8作为统一理论候选者的看法已经改变，认为E8只是宇宙源代码的一部分。他认为量子场论需要一个无限维的几何对象来描述，而E8理论中将玻色子和费米子融合的方式，使得费米子的量子化处理变得困难。他认为他的理论尝试是诚实的，并希望能够解决E8理论中存在的问题。他认为构建“万物理论”的两种基本方法：自顶向下和自底向上。他认为数学美感可以作为研究的指导，但不能盲目依赖。他认为当前的粒子物理学文化阻碍了新思想的发展，需要转向探索阶段。他认为太平洋科学研究所旨在支持科学家进行不受约束的研究。

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The discussion explores the role of beauty and aesthetics in theoretical physics, with Garrett Lisi and Eric Weinstein debating whether beauty in mathematical structures can lead to true insights about the universe or if it might mislead.

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Garrett Lisi, the so called "Surf Bum with a Theory of Everything (or T.O.E.)", is a PhD theoretical physicist who has refused to be captured by the theoretical physics community. By making shrewd investments, he has avoided holding meaningful employment for his entire adult life. Instead, he lives in Maui and travels the world chasing the perfect wave.

In this episode Garrett and Eric sit down to discuss the current status of Garrett's ideas for a final theory based on a mysterious object called E8, perhaps the oddest of mathematical symmetries to be found in the universe. 

Garrett and Eric have held each other in mutual “contempt” for over a decade. By vacationing together and staying in each others' homes, they had hoped to hone and deepen their mutual disgust for each other's ideas. However, as the theoretical physics community moved away from actually trying to unify our incompatible models of the physical world, it became intellectually unmoored, and drifted toward a culture of performative Cargo Cult Physics. The antagonists were thus forced by necessity to develop a begrudging admiration for each other's iconoclasm and unwillingness to give up on the original dream of Einstein to unify and understand our world. 

The discussion is rough but a fairly accurate depiction of scientific relationships belonging to a type that is generally not shown to the public. This may be uncomfortable for those who have been habituated to NOVA, The Elegant Universe, or other shows produced for mass consumption. We apologize in advance.

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