Do you believe in the string theory?

Question

One equation will tie everything together.

Answer 1

I don't think theories are things you should particularly believe in. You should test them.

On this basis, string theories are on pretty shaky ground. There is not a single experiment to date in support of them, and many of the things they talk about fall outside the range of what could ever be tested.

This latter point is particularly disturbing. It means that I could equally have a theory that the universe was surrounded by invisible cheese, and there would be no way of choosing between my theory and string theory. The fact that you clearly understand the absurdity of the blue cheese theory is not proof. And the fact that few if any people in this forum understand string theory does not make it a more likely theory.

What surprises me are the statements here such as "it explains the math of so much" etc, from people who clearly have little idea of what math is actually involved.

If you want to get to grips with string theory and competing theories, read Roger Penrose's "The Road to Reality", but be warned - it is a hard book.

It is clear that Penrose - one of the most brilliant physicists alive - is not particularly convinced by string theory. His point is that in the battle to unite the two theories of general relativity and quantum theory, string theorists have effectively assumed the supremacy of quantum theory. It is not clear that this is correct.

In fact, it may well be far more likely that there are underlying much simpler theories of the universe that reduce to the ones we currently understand in the right circumstances. These may require concepts we have not yet introduced.

An analogy would be the emergence of quantum mechanics itself. It was clear 100 years ago that there were flaws in classical theory, but it was not at all obvious that the resolution to these would be the introduction of a probabilistic approach.

Answer 2

The word "believe" has no place in science. Scientists use the scientific method to verify a hypothesis, and other scientists then accept the hypothesis.

Thus far, string theory has not been verified or proven in the way that Einstein's theory of relativity has been demonstrated. That means scientists accept relativity but have not yet accepted string theory.

Similarly with evolution. The majority of scientists accept that evolution has been demonstrated scientificially and it is thus accepted as valid. It's not a matter of one guy (Darwin) proposing some far-fetched idea, and scientists then blindly accepting (i.e. "believing") it. Rather, Darwin proposed this idea based on observation, and now, a couple hundred years later, science has found many ways to verify the hypothesis, which means scientists now accept that evolution occurs.

However, having said that, I would suspect that there are plenty of scientists (including Brian Green, author of The Elegant Universe) who absolutely believe that String Theory is true, even though it has not been proven.

Answer 3

Or tie everything and everybody up in knots!
Everybody looks for The Truth,and I doubt that there is an ultimate truth, a total complete theory of everything, but strings give a lot of answers in the math and the search for unified theories gives many interesting results along the way.

Answer 4

String theory is really special. It's been created in a manner that is completely different from any other theory and ultimately there's a good chance that once we have the opportunity to test it experimentally we will be very dissapointed.

That said, it's a very popular theory and if one has intellectual maturity it won't cause you any problems if it's disproved, it's just a matter of moving on to a better theory.

Answer 5

I watched a documentary called the Elegant Universe that explained string theory. And I have to say that it sounds made up to me. I think we have come to the limit of human understanding and we just won't be able to reconcile a theory of everything. String theory sounds just too easy. If I could see the "strings," then I might change my mind.

Answer 6

Yes, I believe a string is what keeps a kite from blowing away. And it keeps a yoyo from smashing into the floor.

Answer 7

yes, & what a tortured mind someone will need to tame to prove such an elegant equation.

Answer 8

NO