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In a nutshell Sabine Hossenfelder talks about modern physics research as if it's been a glorified embezzlement racket of public funds for the last couple decades. She talks about 'paper mill' type issues in science broadly but I'm most curious about people's opinions of how she talks about physics specifically.
I watch her videos now and then but I currently have to hold her in a bit of a superposition. From what I can tell she either:
She represents the non-imbecilic version of the growing sentiment that there is a lot of nonsense research happening nowadays on the public dollar, and is raising important concerns that are otherwise systematically suppressed, OR
She's making a career out of misrepresenting molehills into mountains, and actively eroding public trust in good institutions at a time when such a thing is most damaging
I feel like I personally need more actual relevant subject knowledge to understand what's going on with her, she's a difficult case where my bullshit detector isn't powerful enough to make a strong read either way.
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@MaxE I dont know how much erosion of trust in institutions she does. She doesnt work to erode trust in institutions that need public trust, like medicine
@MaxE ya, like, all of her broad strokes critiques are pretty unambiguously correct tbh. And society SHOULD have an eroded trust in academic physicists, lol. Itβs not like itβs some sacred religious institution that can only be criticized from within (and if so, then that falls to her, no?) since mere mortals cannot learn their language.
However, her individual videos / takes over the last 2-3 years have just been getting less and less accurate, and she seems to be exaggerating things more and more for her audience.
Iβm a mix of these options. I think she has some core critiques that are somewhat true, and those are what inspired her to start doing what she does, but that she become a grifter as this became her career. In addition, I think a lot of her specific thoughts about physics are wrong, mostly to the extent that she disagrees with the large majority of physicists.
@Gabrielle Yep, that's what I was going to say. I think she has some good takes about problems in the field, and she's also a grifter.
@Gabrielle I think sheβs in many ways just louder than most physicists. Most physicists, if they were forced to voice their opinions about the field and about concrete matters in physics would be just as, if not far more, wrong.
But ya, I think she has become more grifty over time.