Fashion Faith and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe

What can fashionable ideas blind faith or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends dogmatic beliefs or flights of fancy? In fact acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book he argues that fashion faith and fantasy while sometimes productive and even essential in physics may be leading todays researchers astray in three of the fields most important areas-string theory quantum mechanics and cosmology.Arguing that string theory has veered away from physical reality by positing six extra hidden dimensions Penrose cautions that the fashionable nature of a theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility. In the case of quantum mechanics its stunning success in explaining the atomic universe has led to an uncritical faith that it must also apply to reasonably massive objects and Penrose responds by suggesting possible changes in quantum theory. Turning to cosmology he argues that most of the current fantastical ideas about the origins of the universe cannot be true but that an even wilder reality may lie behind them. Finally Penrose describes how fashion faith and fantasy have ironically also shaped his own work from twistor theory a possible alternative to string theory that is beginning to acquire a fashionable status to conformal cyclic cosmology an idea so fantastic that it could be called conformal crazy cosmology.The result is an important critique of some of the most significant developments in physics today from one of its most eminent figures.