Needs versus means in high‐energy physics

Some physicists have recently begun to voice their expectations that the “grand synthesis” of all physics is almost within our grasp. If only we had a little more of this or that, and if only some of the remaining nagging difficulties would go away… Here, however, I would like to turn from this sublime ambition to more down‐to‐earth considerations. Physics remains a science based on experience. How do we acquire that experience to determine whether or not particle physics is indeed on the right track to the “grand synthesis?”