There's an fundamental difference between theoreticists in the natural sciences and the #humanities. The natural sciences aim to develop *better* theory. The humanities aim to develop *more* theory.
@mrundkvist
For particle physics the last ~30 years have seen a situation where theorists have very little data by which to judge if a theory is indeed better. Consequently there's a lot of "making more" in the hopes that something turns out to be better later.
My impression is that the humanities are seduced by the immediacy of their subject to explain more details than the data can support, and so are endlessly fighting inconsistencies (well, the economists are making some progress on collective behaviour but they largely trade away the humanity from the picture).
@tobychev Regarding the various string theories, I am fond of the phrase "Not even wrong".
@tobychev The #humanities are dependably hit by a new theoretical-Pentecostal revival movement every five years. A lot of hopefuls attempt to write the foundational text of such a movement. An even larger number jump onto the bandwagons.
#academia