Because I enjoy figuring out how things work, several years ago I spent some time researching and reading up on dark matter, superstrings and other strange phenomenon. What originally tickled my fancy was an even more esoteric contrarian theory called “Mirror Matter.” Four summers ago I came across a couple of intriguing articles from SpaceDaily which investigated this new hypothesis, and even purchased a book from its leading theoretian: Shadowlands, by Robert Foot.
I have discussed some of this theory before, and while I still believe it has merit (it is testable), I have actually enjoyed the debate surrounding the non-existence of superstrings more. This was underscored by the recent publication of a book criticizing string theory research by mathematician Peter Woit, entitled “Not Even Wrong.”
The title comes from Wolfgang Pauli, a Nobel physicist who had, “three escalating levels of insult for colleagues he deemed to be talking nonsense: “Wrong!â€?, “Completely wrong!â€? and finally “Not even wrong!â€?.
I mention this because Robert Foot used a great quote from Pauli in one of his papers, suggesting, “Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out” (I believe Richard Feynman originally coined it). In addition, during some of the email exchanges I had with Foot, he eventually refered me to Peter Woit and this scathing paper in particular.
For some more background on the development of the book, be sure to read old listserve emails like this. In addition, Woit keeps an frequently blog discussing much of the physics and math surrounding string theory; you will never guess what the title of it is.
See also, the Sokal Affair and the Bogdanov Affair.