Nobelization of popular science writing. When I spotted the name of Steven Weinberg among the authors included in The Best American Science Writing 2010, a bit puzzled by the title The Mission of Astronomy, I went for it right away. The revelation that a Nobel Prize winner of 1979 is in 2010 writing a popular science piece not quite of his speciality is, shall I say, interesting - and not in a good way.
First of all, it is obviously included in The Best because it’s written by a Nobel Prize winner, not because it is the best. As far as astronomy is concerned, the piece could be written by an passionate astronomy freshman. What a freshman wouldn’t include, however, is Weinberg’s lament for the Superconducting Super Collider, the project killed by Congress in 1993 - a
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subject not related to the mission of astronomy whatsoever. Which brings me back to Weinberg’s book Dreams of a Final Theory (1993). As much as I enjoyed reading and learning from the Dreams, I couldn’t stand dozens of pages glorifying the task and importance of the current elementary particles physics (EPP) and, consequently, criticiz- ing all those reluctant to spend billions of dollars for a new EPP’s toy. On the high level of astronomy in the ancient world, Weinberg comments: "One obvious reason for this is that visible astronomical phenomena are much simpler and easier to study than the things we can observe on the Earth’s surface." And more: "In fact, in the past astronomy benefited from the an overestimate of its useful- ness." He himself would be much close to the Earth if he would apply the same reasoning to his field, the EPP. It is much simple to create particles in high energy collisions and fancy theories of their role in the creation of our universe than to understand the complexity of biological systems or social systems, or plumbing for that matter. The inept marriage of cosmology and EPP, called Big Bang, gives unwarranted prestige to theoretical physicists because most of us want to believe that we are the crown of the intelligent life in the universe, ready to understand why we are what we are where we are. I can read the EPP’s motto: If our theory can’t make it there, it can’t make it anywhere. So how’s that theory looking? Not good. It’s offered as a replace- ment for both God and philosophy but it relies on God undercover and contradicts the philosophy on which it is based [WEEKLY_1] & [WEEKLY_2]. |
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