30 December 2011

Academic honesty

Which string theorist can honestly say that string theory is correct? Or that supersymmetry is correct?

Most universities require from their students "honesty in the search for truth". But universities are tricky beasts: they rarely apply to themselves what they require from others. If they did, university researchers and professors working on string theory would need to resign. Why don't they? Because of the money.

These researchers do not pursue truth. They pursue money.

2 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I am a physicist, and I don't believe in string theory. But I will politely disagree with you and I don't think what they are doing have anything to do with academic honesty.

    They follow their theory and derive whatever it comes out. The only unfortunate thing is their theory can not be tested by experimentalists. Once their work is confronted by experiment, we will see if their work is correct or not. And this has nothing relate with "academic honesty".

    sincerely,
    John Chen

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  2. John,

    I understand your careful point of view, but I do not share it. If somebody does things that cannot be tested, he is not doing physics. If he still claims that he is doing physics, he is lying. Liars have no place in universities.

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