Dissonant Reality
There is a persistent belief among both scientists and non-scientists that good theories must be somehow beautiful or elegant or something similar, because reality itself is ultimately โ in some relevant sense โ harmonious; or in other words, that science must be beautiful/โsimple/โelegant/โetcera because the laws of nature are beautiful/โsimple/โelegant/โetcera. This belief is particularly influential in physics and mainstream economics (which likes to mimic physics or an image thereof as much as possible). Sabine Hossenfelder has written an interesting book about how this belief โleads physics astrayโ rather than that it provides useful guidance. For an illustration of how deep...