HackerTube

THE VIDEO SHELF · string theory and science communication

string theory lied to us and now science communication is hard

Physicist Angela Collier's roughly hour-long video on how string theory was hyped to the public and what that did to science communication. She traces the history of the theory as a narrative and argues it is interesting but was oversold.

Watch & explore the libraryYouTube ↗

Why HN readers recommended it

Recommended as an engaging critique of string theory hype and its effect on public trust in physics, and often cited alongside Peter Woit's writing.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel
Angela Collier
Topic
string theory and science communication
Format
commentary
Level
general
HN recommenders in dataset
8
HN mentions in dataset
10
Recommendation years in dataset
2023–2026

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

  • This [1] is a fantastic refutation of string theory in that the string theorists have taken more than their fair share of research dollars and public consciousness and that it's time for other branches of physics to get the funding. With limited resources, if you …

    echelon on Hacker News · 2024-02
    In In a 'Dark Dimension,' Physicists Search for the Universe's Missing Matter

  • I just wanted to second this recommendation - while the video is nearly an hour long, it feels much shorter and is well worth watching: [VIDEO]

    sockmeistr on Hacker News · 2024-03
    In 20 Years of "Not Even Wrong"

  • Agree but very much with your caveat. If you study the mathematics of some sort of abstract structure you are doing research in pure maths. That is a worthy and completely legitimate pursuit and a ton of stuff started life as pure abstract mathematical research …

    seanhunter on Hacker News · 2024-03
    In 20 Years of "Not Even Wrong"

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.