Is String Theory Science?
There’s been considerable to-do lately about string theory. Which is kind of funny, because I don’t understand string theory, and neither does nearly anybody else. There are a few thousand physicists working on it, and beyond that, nobody understands it. The problem is more political than scientific. Scientists are supposed to be dispassionate, but they aren’t, not really. The accusations that “string theory isn’t science” come primarily from proponents of other theories who find that they’re unable to get their research funded. Is that because their research isn’t any good, or because string-theory-believing grants committees are sending all of the funding to other string-theory scientists? It’s hard to say without being able to evaluate the work, and I can’t. Science is supposed to explore all of the avenues, but we don’t get to, because money is in finite supply. Especially for purely-theoretical research; practical research gets money from people who want to make stuff they can sel
