The only game in town

It is quite unbelievable how often one hears the defence of string theory, that it is “the only game in town”. If this were true, it would be a shocking indictment of the state of theoretical fundamental physics. But it is not true. There are many other games in town. It is just that no-one pays any attention to them. There are large numbers of people with hugely interesting ideas about how to break the logjam, and work towards solutions of the fundamental problems. It is just that no-one listens to these ideas. The authoritative figures only talk, and don’t listen. They are bereft of ideas themselves, but instead of listening to other people’s ideas, they shut their eyes and their ears, and open their mouths, and intone the mantra that their own long-since failed idea is the only one in town. Nonsense. There are huge numbers of ideas out there. Several of them might even be crazy enough to be true.

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