If physicists come up with a theory of everything, what will be left to prove in physics?

Question

Would the even be a point of people becoming physisicts any more if everything is already solved?

Answer 1

Proving they're actually right about their theory.

Yes! There would be a point to it. Theories are theories. You can always find a different one. And it's my OPINION that many of our physicists are jerks. Hawkings - what a moron. He's a "WANNABEE". Brains - membranes - string theory - alternate worlds! GEEZZE! Let's see if we can out do Hollywood for bizarre.

If you aspire to becoming a physicist, keep in mind that nothing theoretical is solid. Big Bang and the Quantum Singularity? If everything was smaller than an atom at one point, then what was the purpose of existing in the middle of the infinity of space? Why so large a space for such a small particle? With that much space, why would there be only one singularity? Wouldn't there be multiplicities?

Hey PROVE ME WRONG.

There are things we know, things we know we DON'T know, and things we don't know we DON'T know. Who knows what will be the next undiscovered fronteer?

Answer 2

The term "theory of everything" is a bit overstated. But even if it is achieved, there will be plenty of work left for physicists. Think of a three-year old asking questions, after every statement, we get another "why?" The theory of everything answers the final "why?", but it doesn't necessarily help much with "everyday physics".

For example, consider the Schrodinger equation. We can write down the equation for any arbitrary system, it is the underlying equation that can describe all chemistry and biology, as well as classical and quantum physics. Nobody would consider using the Schrodinger equation to model the flow of air over a wing, or the formation of hardened steel, or the action of a drug on a child. The equation is much too complex to be solved for these cases, so higher-level theories are created for different types of problems. For example, transistor design starts with quantum mechanics, but almost immediately moves into a type of statistical mechanics where the behaviour of large groups of electrons are modeled, rather than each individual electron and proton.

There are many physicists working on real-world problems that would not be affected by final knowledge of such low-level details. Certainly, if a theory of everything were discovered tomorrow, it would not make my job superfluous.

Answer 3

At some point, physicists will come up with a theory that unifies gravity with quantum mechanics, though I doubt it will come in the next 20 years or so. Once it happens though, physics will not be over, since there will be need for experimentation to provide evidence to support the theory, which may take years to develop.

Plus, you have to figure that just about the time that everyone is convinced that they have figured out the theory of everything, someone will come along with a discovery about something that will reshape physics and cause the search for the theory to begin anew.

Answer 4

It will never happen, either for physicists, or for those of any other specialty, because as soon as we get to the point where we think we see the end of the road on the horizon, the road expands even further, and disappears again out of sight. The road is lengthening just as fast as we are travelling. Sometimes we catch up on it a little, then, at other times, we ourselves slow down and it gets ahead of us again.
There will always be more for us to learn than we have already grasped. That which we still have to learn, and know, and discover, will always expand at a rate faster than we can travel to reach the end of that road.

Answer 5

There is no such thing as a theory of everything.

The term is sometimes used of the theory attempting to unite the four fundamental forces. However, even if this were acheived this theory would be entirely useless for, say, designing better electronic devices.

Theories by their nature have rather narrow scope. Outside that scope they do a very poor job of usefully describing reality. A fundamental theory of forces is not useful for everyday forces, and a theory of everyday forces is not useful for understanding fundamental physics.

Answer 6

In the 1950's scientists believed they knew everything about nutrition - they were wrong. Even if the "Grand Unified Theory" is solved, there will still be things that we don't know, like aspects of brain functioning. Physicists will still be needed for spaceship design, spaceship engine design, fusion reactor power plant design, etc.

Answer 7

A theory can never be proved in all situations, because no body knows what "all situations" means. Only time will test a theory. All it takes is one incident to disprove a theory and start all over to extend it beyond. If you examine the theories developed so far, you will find the latest one includes the others that were disproved or proven to be inadequate.

Answer 8

They will never come up with a theory for everything, there will always be more to discover & prove

Answer 9

physicists need to write a manual that explains everything about women

Answer 10

The meaning of life, the Universe and everything.