Farewell to reality : how modern physics has betrayed the search for scientific truth

**From acclaimed science author Jim Baggot, a pointed critique of modern theoretical physics.** In this stunning new volume, Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles,super strings, the multiverse, the holographic principle,or the anthropic cosmological principle. These theories are not only untrue, it is not even science. It is fairy-tale physics:fantastical, bizarre and often outrageous, perhaps even confidence-trickery.This book provides a much-needed antidote. Informed,comprehensive, and balanced, it offers lay readers the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy. With its engaging portraits of many central figures of modern physics, including Paul Davies, John Barrow, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking,and Leonard Susskind, it promises to be essential reading forall readers interested in what we know and don’t know about the nature of the universe and reality itself. graphs and charts The supreme task : reality, truth, and the scientific method Part I. The authorized version. White ambassadors of morning : light, quantum theory and the nature of reality ; The construction of mass : matter, force and the standard model of particle physics ; Beautiful beyond comparison : space, time and the special and general theories of relativity ; The (mostly) missing universe : the universe according to the standard model of Big Bang cosmology ; What's wrong with this picture? : why the authorized version of reality can't be right Part II. The grand delusion. Thy fearful symmetry : beyond the standard model : supersymmetry and grand unification ; In the cemetery of disappointed hopes : superstrings, M-theory and the search for the theory of everything ; Gardeners of the cosmic landscape : many worlds and the multiverse ; Source code of the cosmos : quantum information, black holes and the Holographic Principle Ego sum ergo est : I am therefore it is : the anthropic cosmological principle ; Just six questions : defining the destination at the end of a hopeful journey. In this stunning new volume, Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles, super strings, the multiverse, the holographic principle, or the anthropic cosmological principle. These theories are not only untrue, it is not even science. It is fairy-tale physics: fantastical, bizarre and often outrageous, perhaps even confidence-trickery.This book provides a much-needed antidote. Informed, comprehensive, and balanced, it offers lay readers the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy. With its engaging portraits of many central figures of modern physics, including Paul Davies, John Barrow, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking, and Leonard Susskind, it promises to be essential reading for all readers interested in what we know and don't know about the nature of the universe and reality itself. Presenting portraits of many central figures in modern physics, including Stephen Hawking and Leonard Susskind, this critique of modern theoretical physics provides the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy.