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cover of episode Rationally Speaking #211 - Sabine Hossenfelder on "The case against beauty in physics"

Rationally Speaking #211 - Sabine Hossenfelder on "The case against beauty in physics"

2018/6/25
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Rationally Speaking Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

This episode features physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, author of Lost in Math, arguing that fundamental physics is too enamored of "beauty" as a criterion for evaluating theories of how the universe works. She and Julia discuss the three components of beauty (simplicity, naturalness, and elegance), why physicists think it's reasonable to put their trust in beauty, and why this might be merely a symptom of other underlying problems with physics as a discipline.