Progress in the foundations of physics has been slow since the 1970s. The Standard Model of particle physics is both very successful, but also displays a fundamental weakness: it can’t make sense of gravity. Physicists have pursued a number of pet projects, like supersymmetry and string theory, claiming they held the key to overcoming the Standard Model’s shortcomings, but at this point they seem like failed projects. So how can theoretical physics become unstuck? According to Sabine Hossenfelder, any improvement on the Standard Model goes through understanding the main conundrum of quantum mechanics: the measurement problem. *Sabine Hossenfelder will be speaking at our festival HowTheLightGetsIn, Hay 2022 June 2-5.Check out the programme and book your tickets here. Streaming tickets also available.* Physicists have been promising us for more than a century that a theory of everything is just around the corner, and still that goal isn’t in sight. Why haven’t we seen much progress with …
Originally appeared on iai News RSS feed Read More
