> _"These unification feats are both great intellectual achievements as well as noteworthy goals, but they have led many to believe that unification is the only thing that really matters in physics, and perhaps in all of science."_
The whole essay is motivated by an opinion that is pulled out of thin air, and attributed to some mysterious "they". No evidence of who makes this claim. I've not seen any good physicist (much less the lot of them) claim that unification is the only thing that matters for physics.
> _"The obsession with unification has led to an ignorance of the diversity of discoveries in physics. In parallel with the age of the unifiers has existed the universe of diversifiers. While the unifiers have been busy proclaiming discoveries from the rooftops, the diversifiers have been quietly building new instruments and cataloging the reach of physics in less fundamental but equally fascinating fields like solid-state physics and biophysics."_
Duh! The American system of science funding necessitates sales and marketing. When your research creates tangible applications, you needn't go around proclaiming how you're doing deep things. Conversely, the only way for people doing abstract/theoretical work is to keep trumpeting ceaselessly; given the precarious funding situation, their supply could be cut off at any point!
The whole essay is motivated by an opinion that is pulled out of thin air, and attributed to some mysterious "they". No evidence of who makes this claim. I've not seen any good physicist (much less the lot of them) claim that unification is the only thing that matters for physics.
> _"The obsession with unification has led to an ignorance of the diversity of discoveries in physics. In parallel with the age of the unifiers has existed the universe of diversifiers. While the unifiers have been busy proclaiming discoveries from the rooftops, the diversifiers have been quietly building new instruments and cataloging the reach of physics in less fundamental but equally fascinating fields like solid-state physics and biophysics."_
Duh! The American system of science funding necessitates sales and marketing. When your research creates tangible applications, you needn't go around proclaiming how you're doing deep things. Conversely, the only way for people doing abstract/theoretical work is to keep trumpeting ceaselessly; given the precarious funding situation, their supply could be cut off at any point!