Hacker News Post Spotlights Smithsonian Overview of Evolutionary Cosmology

The author of the post says “Blowtorch Theory” was itself an extension of Smolin's work. He recounts that the essay reached the top of Hacker News while he was having dinner with his five-year-old son, after a friend sent him a text message with the news. Although he initially knew little about the site or its readers, he says he learned a great deal from the subsequent exchange; his dinner went cold and his son ended up watching cartoons.

The same post calls Smolin “wonderful, powerful, oddly neglected” and describes the Smithsonian overview as covering “the remarkably healthy state of evolutionary cosmology.” The author also likens the emerging field to “a startup disrupting cosmology.” He wrote that he enjoyed most of the robust discussion that followed his earlier essay, and hoped Hacker News readers would find the Smithsonian piece interesting.