Avril, (01)
> If the new theory/paradigm is really unifying, it should provide
> a unifying explanation of what were previously exceptional cases. (02)
Yes, but it's much easier to find a Little Unifying Theory (LUT)
than a GUT. Most sciences, including physics, have many LUTs,
but nobody has ever found an ideal GUT in any field. (03)
Note my previous comment about Einstein's "annus mirabilis" in 1905.
In that year, he published four outstanding articles, each of which
presented a very important LUT: Brownian motion; quantum theory of
light (photons); special relativity; and matter-energy equivalence. (04)
> The biggest problems of the standard model of cosmology are the
> following (the standard model is founded on [General Relativity] and
> has evolved into [the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric]... (05)
GR was Einstein's biggest LUT. He spent the second half of his career
in an unsuccessful attempt to expand it into a GUT. (06)
> A man called Tuomo Suntola has formulated what he calls
> "The Dynamic Universe" model.
>
> http://www.physicsfoundations.org/library/The_Dynamic_Universe_e-book.pdf (07)
I wish him luck. I didn't read the whole book, but I read some of
the opening material and browsed through the rest. I recommend it
as a good overview and analysis of many issues in physics: (08)
Blurb on back cover by Ari Lehto, PhD in physics
> The model is rational and can be understood by anyone with basic
> knowledge in physics and mathematics. (09)
There is nothing wrong with having a dream of finding a GUT.
In fact, Einstein's loosely connected LUTs of 1905 were inspired
by his grander vision about how all those independent ideas could
be related. And like Einstein, Suntola has a "day job": (010)
Back cover
> Dr. Suntola has a far-reaching academic and industrial career
> comprising pioneering work from fundamental theoretical findings
> to successful industrial applications... (011)
Note that Marcus and Davis were not criticizing the *search* for
a GUT. Many outstanding LUTs were discovered by people who had
visions of GUTs. My favorite philosopher-logician-scientist,
Charles Sanders Peirce, had a grand vision of semiotics as the
ultimate GUT -- and I agree with him. He never completed the GUT,
but he discovered many important LUTs along the way. (012)
Marcus and Davis were criticizing unsubstantiated claims that
some useful LUT was a GUT that is worth billions of dollars:
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-grand-unified-theory-of-everything (013)
One of the major problems of AI and cognitive science is that too
many people make wild claims about GUTs, instead of integrating
multiple useful LUTs. That's the point of the talk I presented
in November: http://www.jfsowa.com/talks/micai.pdf (014)
Short summary: The cognitive cycle in slides 41 to 52 of micai.pdf
is an outline of Peirce's GUT and its use in relating the many LUTs
in AI and cognitive science. (015)
John (016)
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