Lee Smolin

possibility God universe organize

“One possibility is: God is nothing but the power of the universe to organize itself.”

― Lee Smolin

string theorist arcane understand human wrong

“Some string theorists prefer to believe that string theory is too arcane to be understood by human beings, rather than consider the possibility that it might just be wrong.” 

― Lee Smolin

goal physics romance unification

“The most cherished goal in physics, as in bad romance novels, is unification.”

― Lee Smolin

physics unifying gravity matter mach atom maxwell aether

“By the time I began my study of physics in the early 1970s, the idea of unifying gravity with the other forces was as dead as the idea of continuous matter. It was a lesson in the foolishness of once great thinkers. Ernst Mach didn’t believe in atoms, James Clerk Maxwell believed in the aether, and Albert Einstein searched for a unified-field theory. Life is tough.”

― Lee Smolin

space time emerge law arena happen

“Space and time emerge from the laws rather than providing an arena in which things happen.” 

― Lee Smolin

deep persisten problems solved accident people obsessed

"Deep, persistent problems are never solved by accident; they are solved only by people who are obsessed with them and set out to solve them directly."

― Lee Smolin

surprise inherent structure world

"Surprise is inherent in the structure of the world."

― Lee Smolin

simplicity beauty sign truth well-constructed model domain

"Simplicity and beauty are the signs not of truth but of a well-constructed approximate model of a limited domain of phenomena."

― Lee Smolin

science truth people diverse viewpoints belive public evidence

"Science is not about what's true or what might be true, science is about what people with originally diverse viewpoints can be forced to believe by the weight of public evidence."

― Lee Smolin

mathemathics physics world organised principles

"But in spite of the obvious effectiveness of mathematics in physics, I have never heard of a good a priori argument that the world must be organised to mathematical principles."

― Lee Smolin