http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=651#comments

Great post.

Lee Smolin's fantastic hype got Lisi listed as the next Einstein.
Awesome. The trouble with physics--the rise of string theory, the
fall of science, and what comes next--big physics pornography.

Eric writes on Peter's blog, "Eric Says:

February 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
What's really sad is that Discover magazine has a special issue this
month devoted to Einstein. One article in the magazine is a listing of
the `next Einstein'. Number one is the famous surfing, independent
physicist who just `published' a paper. Ed Witten is listed as number
six. This is really deplorable." --http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/
wordpress/?p=651#comments

You can read more about Garrett Lisi's theory, funded by FQXI (where
Smolin sits on the advisory panel) and heavily promoted by Smolin and
people associated with Smolin's $100-million+ "Big Physics" PI:

http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/archives/001505.html
http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/11/16/garrett-lisis-theory-of-everything/
(amazing--these are our best and brightest)
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=26325744&postID=4007686103215514698

After the LHC dispels all the "Big Physics" hype, the path will be
clear for MDT:

Moving Dimensions Theory's Postulate: The fourth dimension is
expanding relative to the three spatial diemensions.

dx4/dt = ic

http://physicsmathforums.com

The Curious Nature of the Photon, Einstein's Annus Mirabilis,
and Moving Dimensions Theory

As the contemplation of the photon lead to both quantum mechanics and
relativity, let us also begin by contemplating the photon. Einstein's
revolutionary 1905 papers included one devoted to the photoelectric
effect-the quantized nature of the photon, and another devoted to the
electrodynamics of moving bodies-electromagnetic radiation,
relativity, and the wave properties of the photon. Another paper
discussed statistical mechanics in the form of Brownian Motion, and
the final paper commented on the equivalence of mass and energy, as
denoted with his famous equation, E=mc2. Moving Dimensions Theory
underlies and unifies all of Einstein's 1905 papers with its simple
postulate-the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three
spatial dimensions.
Picture the emission of a photon in free space. Once second later, the
photon has equal probability of being found anywhere upon a sphere
with a radius of 186,000 miles, as c, the velocity of light, equals
186,000 miles per second. If we covered the surface of the sphere with
detectors, one, and only one, would click. And the photon, although
traveling 186,000 miles through space, will not have aged one iota,
for time stops at the speed of light. The photon will have traveled
186,000 miles through the three spatial dimensions, and yet it will
not have moved one iota in the fourth dimension. And there lies our
first clue to moving dimensions theory. For how can a photon propagate
186,000 in the three spatial dimensions, and yet not budge an inch in
the fourth dimension, unless that fourth dimension is expanding? Ergo,
the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial
dimensions.
Consider two interacting photons that propagate in opposite
directions. One second later, each photon's polarization is measured
at detectors separated by 372,000 miles. According to the laws of
quantum mechanics and numerous supporting experiments, the measurement
at one detector instantaneously affects the measurement at the second
detector. It is as if the photons are yet side-by-side for all intents
and purposes. This "spooky action at a distance," as Einstein called
it, is not so spooky in the context of moving dimensions theory, for
MDT states that although separated by 372,000 miles, the photons are
yet in the exact same place in the fourth dimension, as the fourth
dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions. So it
is that quantum phenomena on the photonic level, as well as
relativistic phenomena on the photonic level, are both accounted for
with simple elegance via MDT: the fourth dimension is expanding
relative to the three spatial dimensions.
Another paper Einstein penned in 1905 was devoted to Brownian Motion
and statistical mechanics. Drop a thimbleful of food coloring in a
pool. The laws of statistical mechanics dictate that it will spread
out throughout the entire pool, and never again reassemble in a
localized region. That everything tends towards random disorder is a
fundamental law of physics, and too, it can be accounted for by moving
dimensions theory. As the fundamental motion of the universe is the
expansion of the fourth dimension relative to the three spatial
dimensions, two photons originating from a common origin will harbor a
vast probability of being found at great distances from one another
one second later-distances far greater than the distance that
separates them at their emission. This is because each one has an
equal probability of being found anywhere upon the surface of a
spherically-symmetric wave front of probability, corresponding to the
wave front of the fourth expanding dimension. Recall our system of
detectors placed everywhere through the surface of a sphere with a
radius of 186,000 miles-each photon has an equal chance of being found
at any detector after one second, and chances are that the detectors
will be farther apart than the distance of 0 that defines the photon's
common origin. Hence entropy. Entropy arises because the fourth
dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions. All
particles undergoing thermal vibrations interact with photons, and all
photons reside in the fourth expanding dimension, dragging all of
entirety into random disorder.
Yet another paper published by Einstein in his "Miraculous Year" (anna
mirabilis), was devoted to the equivalence of mass and energy. Think
about the fascinating physical reality implied by E=mc2. A kilogram of
gold or lead or feathers sitting on a desktop is the same thing as
9x1016 joules of energy-an exorbitant amount of energy-enough to
power, or to destroy, a major city. How is it that a stationary mass
possesses such a great energy? It is because the mass, which is
stationary in the three spatial dimensions, is yet propagating through
the fourth dimension at the rate of c. This is because the fourth
dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions, and
matter trapped in the fourth expanding dimension appears at photons.
Furthermore, as noted earlier, the photons will propagate at the rate
of c through the three spatial dimensions, and yet they will never age-
they will stay in a fixed place in the fourth expanding dimension. The
primary invariant is c-all matter and/or photons-be it propagating
through space or time, or some combination thereof, always, always
moves at the rate of c. To be stationary in space means to propagate
at the rate of c through time. To be stationary in time means to
propagate at the rate of c through space. This is because the fourth
dimension is expanding at the rate of c relative to the three spatial
dimensions. Most objects share motion between space and time, but the
overall velocity of propagation through space-time is fixed at c-this
primary invariance can never change.
And so it is that Moving Dimensions Theory underlies and unifies the
papers Einstein Published during his Annus Mirabilis-his "miraculous
year." I highly recommend Harvard University Press's Einstein 1905:
The Standard of Greatness (Hardcover) by John S. Rigden, about wchich
Publisher's Weekly writes,

"The year 2005 will be the centenary of Einstein's annus mirabilis,
when he published the five papers that marked him as one of the
greatest scientists of all time. Washington University professor
Rigden (Hydrogen: The Essential Element) sits readers down in front of
his white board and explains what Einstein said in each of these
papers, what was significant in them and how the scientific community
reacted (not very well, in most cases-for a while). Einstein started
off with a bang: in March he proposed that light was not a continuous
wave, but was made up of particles. In April he finished what became
his dissertation, on how to determine the size of molecules in a
liquid (that may not sound very exciting, but this is one of
Einstein's most cited papers). In May he wrote his paper on Brownian
motion, and then in June came the summit of his achievements that
year: the paper proposing his principles of relativity and the
consistency of the speed of light (commonly known as the Special
Theory of Relativity). Finally, almost as an afterthought, in
September came the three-page paper that unleashed his now-famous
equation, e=mc2, upon an unsuspecting world. Rigden writes with a rare
felicity, free of jargon and with everyday metaphors that Einstein
himself would no doubt have appreciated."

I encourage everyone to read Einstein's and Bohr's and Heisenberg's
and Dirac's original papers, and contrast their majestic elegance,
eloquence, reason, and logic to the snarky death threats and crackpot
indexes manufactured by today's "best and brightest," and the
accompanying silence from their established elders-the founders of
string theory's oppressive regime. This book looks back to the giants
of yesteryear with deep honor and reverence, so that tomorrow's
physics might advance in the spirit of simple Truth and Beauty. Every
effort will be maintained to demonstrate that true physics is marked
by grace and simplicity, as opposed to obfuscation and bullying.
Moving Dimensions Theory is an idea whose time has come, and ideas are
bulletproof.

http://physicsmathforums.com