To the uninitiated, i.e. me, Smolin's responses seem well balanced and interesting, even if I don't understand all of them.

I recently came across an Einstein quote which seems relevant.

"Because of the intra-atomic movement of electrons, the atom must radiate not only electromagnetic but also gravitational energy, if only in minute amounts. Since, in reality, this cannot be the case in nature, then it appears that the quantum theory must modify not only Maxwell's electrodynamics but also the new theory of gravitation. (Einstein 1916).

I wonder if the informed view of intra-atomic movement is the same now as it was in 1916.

There never was nothing.