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Lubos may have been a loose cannon or said irresponsible things, maybe made unsubstantiated claims, attacked LQG people viciously without provocation AFAIK, and so on, but if so, that is not the issue.
whatever has been Lubos style behavior, it's been going on for at least a couple of years without Harvard authorities or any string colleagues reining him in. Now, suddenly, right after his great "Kennedy Landscape" blog, he says he has been "leashed".
If some superior of Lubos wanted to discipline him or rein him in he could be vulnerable by ordinary science discourse standards (like don't make irresponsible flamboyant statements and ad hominem attacks). But that is like a technicality. Why is he being muzzled right now?
And is he exaggerating or self-dramatizing about this?
well, I will gather some links on it and you can judge, if you are interested or care about it.
Personally I think the growing tide of Landscape in string/M is anti-science and the increasing tendency to appeal to what Motl calls "Anthropic Lack of Principles" (I will abbreviate A.L.o.P.) is a festering blight on string/M which does not augur well for its health. I think Motl deserves some credit for being one of the few articulate people in his field to come out uncompromisingly against Landscapery and reject ALoP and go public with this--- his blog gets a lot of hits so maybe that counts as public.
By comparison, other string people's objection to Landscape sound more like inhouse grumbling, not coming out in the open.
So is Motl being suppressed because of taking an intellectually valuable stance and expressing it effectively? Or is he just dramatizing and making it look like that? Or is he being controlled for simple considerations of propriety and scholarly decency? Or is he maybe not being pressured at all?
Personally I suspect the first. And that, if true, would make me disgusted with the harvard physics department. If one could determine that they are muzzling him because of his outspoken attacks on Anthropery/Landscapery then they would be beneath contempt and he would have been upholding an honorable scientific tradition, against those who should be its defenders. The tradition that basic features and proportions in nature you should at least try to explain and not cop out.
whatever has been Lubos style behavior, it's been going on for at least a couple of years without Harvard authorities or any string colleagues reining him in. Now, suddenly, right after his great "Kennedy Landscape" blog, he says he has been "leashed".
If some superior of Lubos wanted to discipline him or rein him in he could be vulnerable by ordinary science discourse standards (like don't make irresponsible flamboyant statements and ad hominem attacks). But that is like a technicality. Why is he being muzzled right now?
And is he exaggerating or self-dramatizing about this?
well, I will gather some links on it and you can judge, if you are interested or care about it.
Personally I think the growing tide of Landscape in string/M is anti-science and the increasing tendency to appeal to what Motl calls "Anthropic Lack of Principles" (I will abbreviate A.L.o.P.) is a festering blight on string/M which does not augur well for its health. I think Motl deserves some credit for being one of the few articulate people in his field to come out uncompromisingly against Landscapery and reject ALoP and go public with this--- his blog gets a lot of hits so maybe that counts as public.
By comparison, other string people's objection to Landscape sound more like inhouse grumbling, not coming out in the open.
So is Motl being suppressed because of taking an intellectually valuable stance and expressing it effectively? Or is he just dramatizing and making it look like that? Or is he being controlled for simple considerations of propriety and scholarly decency? Or is he maybe not being pressured at all?
Personally I suspect the first. And that, if true, would make me disgusted with the harvard physics department. If one could determine that they are muzzling him because of his outspoken attacks on Anthropery/Landscapery then they would be beneath contempt and he would have been upholding an honorable scientific tradition, against those who should be its defenders. The tradition that basic features and proportions in nature you should at least try to explain and not cop out.
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