Dear Alexander,
I enjoyed your essay, particularly the discussion about approaches to quantum theory. But the crisis in physics is simply because we've not solved a conceptual puzzle, and are not geared up to the conceptual challenge in front of us, having spent 50 years immersed in the mathematics. It's now becoming clear that we can't reach quantum gravity that way.
In the mid 20th century, people started to let go of attempts to interpret the two main theories, and instead forged ahead without interpretations. We made plenty of progress, but we've now reached a point where we can't necessarily get much further without answering the simple, basic questions. People try to solve the puzzles about time, for instance, without looking closely at the clues, and without allowing for 'missing pieces of the puzzle'. In my essay I've used the clues we do have to try to guess what the clues we don't yet have might look like. This is a key part of problem solving, which we've somewhat lost the ability to use.
There is a need to set the mathematics to one side initially, but no-one seems able to do that. I think Lee Smolin (who I've quoted, as you have) was really talking about a failure in recent attempts to build a mathematical bridge between the two main theories - without much of a conceptual underpinning. So now we must look for that before we can move forward. All attempts to move forward without it have failed - hence the crisis.
I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have on my essay,
Best wishes, Jonathan
