Lost in Mathematics: How Beauty Confuses Physicists

In her book "Lost in Math," Sabine Hossenfelder starts off by acknowledging the moment when she realizes she no longer understands physics. When faced with confusion, she turns to friends and colleagues, finding comfort in the fact that she is not alone in her struggles and decides to bring reason back down to earth. Physicists, when pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, often believe that the best theories are beautiful and elegant. However, according to the author, this belief has hindered significant progress in the field of physics over the past four decades. The dogmatic belief in beauty has clashed with scientific objectivity, as observations have failed to confirm theories like supersymmetry or grand unification, which were developed based on aesthetic criteria. These theories, considered "too good to not be true," are actually untestable and have led the field into a dead end. To break free, physicists must rethink their methods and embrace reality as it is in order to discover the truth. "Lost in Math" tells the story of many physicists, including the author herself, who grapple with the notion that the laws of nature are beautiful. Shouldn't belief be something a scientist should never engage in?

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