Readers may remember science writer Philip Ball, who described the many worlds multiverse as a fantasy, verging on nihilism.
At Prospect Magazine, he narrates the string theory showdown:
One of the key predictions specific to string theory is that the three dimensions of space (up-down, left-right and front-back, say) and the one dimension of space (past-future) are not all there is to the fabric of reality. String theory insisted that there are in fact not four but ten dimensions of spacetime—and Witten’s M-theory added one more. We don’t see these dimensions because they are “compactified:” in effect rolled up and hidden away, much as the three-dimensional form of a hosepipe looks like a one-dimensional strand from far enough away.
Proposing something as dramatic as seven extra dimensions, without offering the slightest prospect of testing to see if they are there, is a step too far for some physicists. String theory develops its arguments carefully and systematically, extrapolating from the physics we already know using sound mathematical reasoning. But it cannot avoid making many assumptions on the way, which we have no means of validating, and so it can seem to be nothing but a tissue of speculation. That’s why nailing your flag to the mast of string theory has come to be seen as an expression of faith rather than reason, and physics has become polarised into believers and sceptics. Those tensions have been ramped up by the fact that, during the past several decades, string theory looked a little like a monopoly that you had to buy into if you wanted to make an impression in fundamental physics. (It’s important to remember, though, that this was only one highly specialized enclave of the entire discipline.)
As in, you can buy it, but you can’t sell it?
See also: Multiverse cosmology: Assuming that evidence still matters, what does it say?
and
In search of a road to reality
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A little history into the attempt to find the ‘theory of everything’:
It is interesting to note that special relativity is found to ‘merge’ with quantum mechanics whereas general relativity does not ‘merge’ with quantum mechanics:
As to the claim that ‘QED solves the problem of infinities’, that claim is not quite true. Richard Feynman, rather than saying he solved the problem of infinity, called his solution “brushing infinity under the rug”.
Feynman voices his discomfort with “brushing infinity under the rug” here
I don’t know about Feynman, but as for myself, being a Christian Theist, I find it rather comforting to know that it takes an ‘infinite amount of logic to figure out what one stinky tiny bit of space-time is going to do’:
But alas for mathematicians, infinity is not so easily ignored. Infinity pops up again in the attempt to reconcile Special Relativity-Quantum Mechanics (QED) with General Relativity.
It is also interesting to note in pondering this ‘infinity problem’ that Godel brought Cantor’s ‘logic of infinity’ to completion with the incompleteness theorem.
Kurt Godel’s part in finally bringing the incompleteness theorem to fruition can be picked up here
As you can see, somewhat from the preceding sort video clips from the original BBC ‘Dangerous Knowledge’ video, mathematics cannot be held to be ‘true’ unless an assumption for a highest transcendent infinity is held to be true. A highest infinity which Cantor, and even Godel, held to be God.
I point all this out, i.e. the ‘infinity problem’ and incompleteness, to highlight the most profound confusion in modern physics. The most profound confusion in modern physics is the fallacious belief that mathematical description is superior to agent causality in terms of explanatory power.
The Christian founders of modern science understood the distinction between a mathematical description of a law and the agent causality of the lawgiver quite well.
Perhaps the most famous confusion of a mere mathematical description of a law and the causal agency required to be behind the law is Stephen Hawking’s following statement:
Here is an excerpt of an article, (that is well worth reading in full), in which Dr. Gordon, in fairly rough fashion, exposes Stephen Hawking’s delusion for thinking that mathematical description and agent causality are the same thing.
Now, if we allow agent causality back into math as rightly it should be, then a solution to the ‘infinity problem’ between General Relativity and Special Relativity/Quantum Mechanics readily pops out for us.
Namely, the resurrection of Christ from death provides a empirically backed reconciliation of Quantum Mechanics/Special Relativity, (Quantum Electrodynamics), and General Relativity into the much sought after ‘theory of everything’.
Verse and Music:
It is also interesting to note Godel’s view of God:
Supplemental notes:
The compactified dimensions can be probed only at Planck level energy scales, which will remain a dream for decades to come, so there is no way to falsify the clever String theory proponents.It should be noted that the most audacious papers are always based on string theory. IMO String theory is harming the reputation of scientists.
News, rather than faith vs reason [–> cf. here: reason always in the end rests on finitely remote first plausibles that are taken as givens on trust], a better phrasing would seem to be that a good slice of string theory has crossed the border between science and philosophy. Particularly, where want of access to empirical confirmation or testing is concerned. One should be aware, of the unifying impact, but should be cautious for the lack of access to observational testing. KF