[ccppurcell]

Not just that but the 30s was the tail end of a period of reduction and unification in science. If physics and biology (large portions of it) could be reduced to a handful of principles, why not economics and politics. Darwin, Maxwell, Einstein, Hilbert, the Vienna Circle. It must have seemed like science was on track to explain more or less everything.

[AkelaA]

It’s interesting that the theory of Quantum Mechanics emerged just after this point and threw a wrench in the idea that the universe could be neatly explained through a universal single theory, suddenly there were more questions than answers. And Einstein famously hated quantum physics.

There’s something to be said about the cultural impact of quantum mechanics and how it shifted people’s perceptions from a universe that could eventually be explained by a set of fairly simple, understandable laws of physics to one that is much more complex, mysterious and contradictory. Suddenly the laws of the universe were defined by randomness and uncertainty, rather than determinism and easily understood logic.

[cedilla]

I don't know why it would matter, but Einstein didn't hate quantum mechanics. He literally got his Nobel prize for his role in discovering quantum mechanics. He is one of the earliest people to propose that light exists in quantised packets.

He had some strong opinions around interpretations of quantum physics, but that isn't even a question of science, it's a metaphysical discussion.

While we're at it, Einstein also wasn't a bad student, and he didn't hate mathematics.

[ccppurcell]

Around the same time, Gödel proved the incompleteness theorems and Turing gave us the halting problem. These and the uncertainty principle tell us not only that the universe is somehow statistical and not mechanical, but that there are certain unknowable facts. That's got to be a major psychological blow.

[bobson381]

I read and enjoyed the book " what is real" by Adam Becker that talks about this intersection between the philosophy of the day and its impact on what more considered valid interpretations of QM at the time and into the future. The logical positivists had a lot of impact on popular conception of quantum stuff, even to this day. Great read

[gwerbin]

It also didn't hurt that the economic equivalent of Newtonian physics (that is, if you make a lot of simplifying assumptions that all seem reasonable on their own) points to essentially laissez-faire free market capitalism as welfare-maximizing policy. It is not only better, but a moral imperative that you pursue such policy, lest you burden society with deadweight loss!

Perfectly timed at a critical point in history when the public and policymakers were fighting it out over Socialism. Economics not only provided the feeling of modernity grounded in scientific truth-seeking, but also conveniently aligned with the interests of big businesses at the time.

The same is still true today. People still fetishize science, and still fail to understand the difference between science and pseudoscience. And we are still teaching the same pseudoscience over and over in undergrad economics programs across USA, turning out generation after generation of confused 21 year olds who think they understand everything about the world because they read Hazlitt and plotted some indifference curves.