If so, have you seen the documentary titled: The Elegant Universe aired on Nova PBS? What is your opinion?
2007-04-16 07:02:12 · 20 answers · asked by MoPleasure4U 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No, I haven't seen your program, but "Believe" is hardly the word. "Accept", "Understand", "Dismiss"... these are more applicable to scientific theory.
2007-04-16 07:07:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I just read a book "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin, a prominent physicist working out of whatever that theoretical physics place in Waterloo is called. I can't remember it's name. It's thesis was that String Theory has become a problem theory. It's so elegant but it isn't falsifiable. Any observation that disagrees with the theory can be included by tweaking a constant here or there. So right now I'd say I don't "believe" it, to use your word, but appreciate how elegant and beautiful it is.
Another thought in the book is how String Theory is stifling investigation into other possibilities in physics. Universities and institutes are hiring almost exclusively string theorists. Therefore, a host of other possibilities are not being investigated and string theory is being accepted as true, in a certain manner, within the scientific community without consideration. It reminds me of a comment I heard Zizek say in a documentary about himself. He said something to the effect that in the early 20th century a host of possible economic and social principles were candidates for use, but now capitalism is accepted as the universal truth without question in politics. The same may possibly be said of string theory in physics.
2007-04-16 07:16:35 · answer #2 · answered by Tim 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
M-theory is just a particular form of string theory. String Theory is very elegant and simple ( although difficult in practice) , which contributes to the likelihood it is true. Right now if I was to estimate the probability of some derivative of string theory being correct I would say over 50% but less than 90%. While it may remain untestable for the next hundred or thousand years that does not mean it is untestable in principle.
2007-04-16 07:07:43 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
String theory isn't really something one "believes in" or not, it will either be proven or disproven. Its still a work in progress.
Having said that, I find it fascinating, and yes, I saw the Nova episode and also read the book by Brian Greene. Both are quite good, though of course the book goes into much more detail.
2007-04-16 07:08:37 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i do no longer have faith in string theory or the different theory. i understand that a number of the mathematical aspects of String theory and M-theory accurately describe the observable Universe and the testable parts of Quantum Mechanics. There are no longer any mathematical aspects interior the God hypothesis and none of this is supported via any actual information.
2016-11-24 22:46:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I haven't seen that documentary but I read the book it was based on. I don't pretend to understand it but I think it is cool that physicists are coming up with such facinating models to explain the physical world. If string theory becomes useful in terms of predicitng new phenomena, that would be wonderful. If it just leads to another generation of theory that is cool too.
2007-04-16 11:59:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I haven't seen the documentary, though I have read the book on which it is based. I am currently trying to plough through Brian Greenes followup book on the subject. It is not easy reading as there is a lot of higher level mathematics that you need in order to really understand this stuff. He does a good job of explaining it in simpler terms, though.
It is fascinating stuff, but I remain skeptical that it reflects reality. The main problem is it is all mathematical constructs, and there is apparently no way to test it. That tends to render it outside of normal scientific inquiry.
2007-04-16 07:12:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wasn't String Theory usurped by M Theory?
2007-04-16 07:05:25 · answer #8 · answered by Eleventy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I saw that on Nova. Very cool. String theory certainly seems to reconcile a lot of previously unreconciled physical laws.
2007-04-16 07:08:34 · answer #9 · answered by mrfoamy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I saw the Nova show, but I don't think it gives people enough information to actually decide if they should believe it or not. It is, in fact, too complex and in-depth for most people to be qualified to even consider it. Most people today are not knowlegeable or smart enough to have an opinion on the topics in the forefront of science and mathematics.
2007-04-16 07:07:40 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I actually like the Shoe String Theory and even the Nebular Theory better then the Big Bang Theory.
2007-04-16 07:08:03 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋