- GUTs do not work. They do not explain coupling constants, nor masses, nor anything of great importance. And most of them are falsified by experiment. They do not have clear principles.
- Extra dimensions do not work. They do not explain anything, nor is there experimental evidence in their favor. They do not have clear principles.
- Supersymmetry does not work. It does not explain coupling constants, nor masses, nor anything of great importance. Most of its predictions have already been falsified. And it does not have clear principles.
- Loop quantum gravity does not work. Rovelli's 25 year summary is a depressing read; loops do not explain anything new, nor do they make experimental predictions of anything new. They do not have clear principles.
- String theory does not work. It does not explain coupling constants, nor masses, nor anything else. It does not have clear principles.
About all this work from the past 100 years, Gell-Mann's criticism seems the best: no approach has clear principles. Gell-Mann tells that Einstein's general relativity was easy to discover once the principles where clear. And he adds that nobody is doing the same in fundamental physics.
If clear principles are the light that helps searching, Gell-Mann is
thus saying that people are all searching where there is no light. But Gell-Mann's criticism is much nastier than that. The LHC will not help in deducing new principles. It will just provide data. Principles must be deduced by researchers. And, as Einstein showed, a researcher does not need experiments to deduce them. He needs experiments to check them, that is sure. But he does not need experiments to deduce them. So Gell-Mann is calling all researchers at least "blind" - but maybe he means "stupid"?
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