Editing Lee Smolin (section)

==''The Trouble with Physics''==
{{main|The Trouble with Physics}}
Smolin's 2006 book ''[[The Trouble with Physics]]'' explored the role of controversy and disagreement in the progress of science. It argued that science progresses fastest if the scientific community encourages the widest possible disagreement among trained and accredited professionals prior to the formation of consensus brought about by experimental confirmation of predictions of falsifiable theories.  He proposed that this meant the fostering of diverse competing research programs, and that premature formation of paradigms not forced by experimental facts can slow the progress of science.

As a case study, ''The Trouble with Physics'' focused on the issue of the [[falsifiability]] of string theory due to the proposals that the [[anthropic principle]] be used to explain the properties of our universe in the context of the string landscape. The book was [[The Trouble with Physics#Reviews|criticized]] by physicist [[Joseph Polchinski]]<ref>[[Joseph Polchinski]] (2007) "[http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/all-strung-out All Strung Out?]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183747/https://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/all-strung-out}} a review of ''The Trouble with Physics'' and ''Not Even Wrong'', ''American Scientist'' 95(1):1.</ref> and other string theorists.

In his earlier book ''[[Three Roads to Quantum Gravity]]'' (2002), Smolin stated that [[loop quantum gravity]] and string theory were essentially the same concept seen from different perspectives. In that book, he also favored the [[holographic principle]]. ''The Trouble with Physics'', on the other hand, was strongly critical of the prominence of string theory in contemporary theoretical physics, which he believes has suppressed research in other promising approaches. Smolin suggests that string theory suffers from serious deficiencies and has an unhealthy near-monopoly in the particle theory community. He called for a diversity of approaches to [[quantum gravity]], and argued that more attention should be paid to loop quantum gravity, an approach Smolin has devised. Finally, ''The Trouble with Physics'' is also broadly concerned with the role of controversy and the value of diverse approaches in the ethics and process of science.

In the same year that ''The Trouble with Physics'' was published, [[Peter Woit]] published ''Not Even Wrong'', a book for nonspecialists whose conclusion was similar to Smolin's, namely that string theory was a fundamentally flawed research program.<ref>{{Cite book | first = Peter | last = Woit | year = 2006 | title = Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory & the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics | publisher = [[Jonathan Cape]] | isbn = 0-224-07605-1}}</ref>