Pun Salad

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 25 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

One of them is this guy, although I'm pretty sure he wasn't born with it.

• Did Star Trek have a fascist ideology? Find out in Kelly Ross's essay "The Fascist Ideology of Star Trek". Also see Captain Ed's comments.

  Hey, we dumped on Star Wars last week. So it's only fair.

• Drew Cline looks at Cato's "B" grade for NH governor John Lynch's fiscal policy and speculates: "He must've been graded on a curve."

• Elizabeth Edwards has apologized to Senator Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Edwards had reportedly claimed that "I think I'm more joyful than she is." From the linked article:

  "Unfortunately, large portions of the material released by (Ladies' Home Journal) as quoted statements by me were erroneous and nearly all the statements, either because of significant omissions, or editing, or error, give a mis-impression about what I said," Edwards said. "This is particularly true with respect to my comments about Sen. Clinton, who holds a serious and demanding public office while I am largely home, joyfully I must admit, with two lovely children."

  In Pun Salad's neck of the woods, this is called "twisting the knife."

Once upon a time, in a strange and faraway land, I was a physics major. But eventually, I decided computers were more fun. Lee Smolin gives some reassurance that I made the right move, as he looks at how theoretical physics has developed over the past quarter-century, and sees a whole bunch of things that make him sad.

Smolin's main gripes are with string theory, and (perhaps even more) with string theorists. String theory has, over the past couple decades, been the primary attempt to "explain everything" in theoretical physics: the elementary particles, forces, space, time, the universe, that stuff. Its adherents, claim Smolin, find it too beautiful and elegant not to be true. Smolin says that current versions are likely untestable,

The main part of the book is a history and overview of string theory. I think it's fair to say that it will quickly become inpenetrable for the lay reader. Smolin avoids math, understandable for this type of book, but it's much like watching a football game blindfolded. (There are some pretty good stories along the way, including an amazing one about how Freeman Dyson avoided Albert Einstein at Princeton.)

The later part of the book is more accessible. Smolin discusses the "sociology" of modern theoretical physics, the philosophy of science, and advocates more openness in the physics community toward newcomers wishing to explore alternative frameworks.