Lee Smolin interview on BBC

Just watched that, he made valid points about theoretical physics separating from actual physics more and more over the past (25) years due to the tech not being there.

Now I always sort of accepted string theory (etc) would be well on the way to being proved soon - atom smashes were gonna give the clues. But when I think about it, 2nd world war, physics met quantum and we all know the results, understanding of transistors brought us to this point in computing (whoop de do) are we missing something fundamental? How often will another Einstein come along - have we missed a couple?

Any thoughts?

Gotta be better then going over and over 9/11 - we can go back to that later!