#246 – Peter Woit: Theories of Everything and Why String Theory is Not Even Wrong

Peter Woit is a theoretical physicist, mathematician, critic of string theory, and author of the popular science blog Not Even Wrong. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Peter’s website: www.math.columbia.edu
Peter’s blog: bit.ly
Not Even Wrong (book): amzn.to
Quantum Theory, Groups, and Representations (book): amzn.to
Love and Math (book): amzn.to
The Second Creation (book): amzn.to

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: lexfridman.com
Apple Podcasts: apple.co
Spotify: spoti.fi
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: youtube.com
YouTube Clips: youtube.com

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com
– Twitter: twitter.com
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– Medium: medium.com

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:22) – Physics vs mathematics
(21:51) – Beauty of mathematics
(43:42) – String theory
(1:12:15) – Theory of everything
(1:32:23) – Twistor theory and spinors
(1:48:50) – Nobel Prize likelihood for theory of everything
(1:52:36) – Simulating physics
(1:56:07) – Sci-Fi, aliens and space
(2:05:19) – Responsibility of scientists