We don't blame you if you can't keep up with the latest physics. The buzzy field has exploded in recent years with a lot of highly experimental studies. If this amount of time, money, and effort is going into one specific realm of study, it must be worth it. Yes, right?
The answer, sadly, is wrong.
"It has become common among physicists to invent new particles for which there is no evidence, publish papers about them, write more papers about these particles' properties, and demand the hypothesis be tested," Hossenfelder argued. It is costing money and time.
The first criticism of the field is social. Everyone is following the leader according to her. If your peers are getting grants, why would you not? Going against the grain is much more difficult to sell than science is.
There is a deeper problem with the race for particle discovery, according to the astrophysicist, because particle physicists misinterpreted Karl Popper's philosophy of falsifiability.
Many of her peers have used falsifiability to justify a large amount of dead end research. She believes that misinterpreted-and-or-probably-not-real particles have been used as plugs for statistical holes in other theories. It would mean that a lot of research is being held up by fake glue.
The world needs technological advances more than ever before, and now is not the time to invent particles, argues the astrophysicist.
She said that the field has become a factory for useless academic papers.
The race to invent new particles is pointless.
The scientists were annoyed that people thought they were ripping a hole in reality.
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