What's wrong with having a theory? When did science start to mean scientism?

The guy is clearly very bright. Perhaps you missed where he talked about the same theory with nobel laureate Roger Penrose.

Just because he might not be right about an extremely complex and hard to follow idea doesn't mean he shouldn't be studying it, discussing it, and engaging about it.

> What makes someone an old school progressive, in your opinion?

Those who were known as progressives prior to about 5 years ago. Eric and his brother Bret were self described progressives for decades.

> I'm having trouble finding anything progressive about this person.

Listen to his podcast The Portal to see. That he works with Thiel simply means that he is able to work with people who have different opinions. Guilt by association is lazy, as is dismissing a theory as crackpot, especially from a serious intellectual with the credentials (eg Harvard) to back it up.