The present phase of stagnation in the foundations of physics is not normal

> I am afraid there is nothing that can stop [academic physicists]. They review each other’s papers. They review each other’s grant proposals. And they constantly tell each other that what they are doing is good science. Why should they stop? For them, all is going well. They hold conferences, they publish papers, they discuss their great new ideas. From the inside, it looks like business as usual, just that nothing comes out of it.

Sounds like academic physics is the old academic scholasticism. And this is true. When Newton made a successful coup in the European academic scholasticism and defined himself as the new grand master of the European scolasticism, all the Peripatetic Doctors of Philosophy became Newtonian Doctors of Philosophy and started to write commentery on Newton instead of Aristotle. They changed their professional name to Natural Philosopher to echo Newton's book to show thet they belonged to the cult of Newton. In the 19th century they changed their name again to "physicist" to remove any association with philosophy. But they forgot to change their real professional title which was and still is Doctor of Philosophy. An academic who calls himself a physicist today is a direct professional descendant of Peripatetic philosophers of old. It's the same profession. And finally someone inside the profession wised up and is showing how these useless Doctors of Philosophy corrupted the old science of physics to climb the scholastic hierarchy.