Paul Steinhardt

4 quotes found

"... the inflationary paradigm is so flexible that it is immune to experimental and observational tests. First, inflation is driven by a hypothetical , the inflaton, which has properties that can be adjusted to produce effectively any outcome. Second, inflation does not end with a universe with uniform properties, but almost inevitably leads to a multiverse with an infinite number of bubbles, in which the cosmic and physical properties vary from bubble to bubble. The part of the multiverse that we observe corresponds to a piece of just one such bubble. Scanning over over all possible bubbles in the multiverse, everything that can physically happen does happen an infinite number of times. No experiment can rule out a theory that allows for all possible outcomes. Hence, the paradigm of inflation is unfalsifiable."

- Paul Steinhardt

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"String theory suggested that we should have a whole new set of particles called "supersymmetric partners" that were supposed to be observed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN — we don't see those."

- Paul Steinhardt

• 0 likes• Physicists from the United States• Academics from the United States• Cosmologists• People from Washington, D.C.• California Institute of Technology alumni•
"(quote at 33:07 of 49:06)"

- Paul Steinhardt

• 0 likes• Physicists from the United States• Academics from the United States• Cosmologists• People from Washington, D.C.• California Institute of Technology alumni•
"I know of no other scientist, no other theoretical physicist alive who has a clearer focus on whether our theories and ideas are relevant to the real world. And that's always what he's after."