The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next

by Lee Smolin

Whereas university faculties have stopped growing, there has been a marked increase in the number and power of administrators. Thus, in hiring, there is less reliance on the judgment of individual professors and more on statistical measures of achievement, such as funding and citation levels.

According to Popper, a theory is never proved right, but if it survives many attempts to prove it wrong, we can begin to have faith in it—at least until it is finally falsified.

If an issue can be decided by people of good faith, applying rational argument to publicly available evidence, then it must be regarded as so decided.

If, on the other hand, rational argument from the publicly available evidence does not succeed in bringing people of good faith to agreement on an issue, society must allow and even encourage people to draw diverse conclusions.

Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion.

Quote attributed to Richard Feynman.