Ask Ethan: What do surveys of physicists actually reveal?

The Universe’s known components include Standard Model particles and their interactions across cosmic history, along with well-characterized laws of physics and fundamental forces under many conditions. Much of the Universe’s history has been reconstructed using observational, theoretical, and experimental approaches. A large survey of physicists asked ten big questions about the nature of reality, covering cosmology, black holes, quantum mechanics, and quantum gravity. The survey’s most informative element is the pre-survey identification of who respondents are and what they study, because research focus strongly shapes how questions are answered. The survey’s value depends on how much it reveals about the relationship between expertise and intuition regarding unknown frontiers.

"Out there in the Universe, there's so much that we've learned and discovered. We know all about the normal matter present in the Universe: the full suite of Standard Model particles and how they interact all throughout cosmic history. We know about the laws that govern reality extremely well, including the fundamental forces and how they behave under a wide variety of cosmic and quantum conditions. We've reconstructed most of the history of the Universe in extraordinary detail, and from a variety of different approaches - observationally, theoretically, and experimentally - we're gathering more and more evidence every day to peel back the curtains that obscure what's beyond the currently understood frontiers governing reality."

"But what lies beyond what we're already certain about? If we don't already know, what do the greatest minds who ponder these problems think, and can their intuitions, educated guesses, or even hunches help drive the field forward? In one of the largest surveys of physicists about fundamental physics ever conducted, solicited by Physics magazine in 2025 and published online in 2026, ten big questions about the nature of reality were asked. While anyone can view the results for themselves, it's worth asking what the survey actually reveals, and whether it can teach us anything meaningful?"

"It's published with a provocative title: "Big Mysteries Survey: Physicists' Views on Cosmology, Black Holes, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Gravity." Here's my sure-to-be-unpopular take on it. The first thing worth pointing out is shown above: the pre-survey question of who you are and what you study. This question, arguably, is far more informative than anything else, for the following reasons."

"If you were going to ask a question about astrophysics and/or cosmology, you'd be most "

Read at Big Think