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Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene
What does everyone think about string theory?
To me at least, I think the whole idea of String Theory is intriguing, but I have a hard time buying into it.
Also, does anyone have any outrageoud ideas for a "theory of everything". Sometimes I talk to people and they come up with some pretty interesting ideas for an "everything" theory. I just wanted to get an idea about what people here think.
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The problem with string theory is it is not really a predictive theory. Basically, it is like fitting a polynomial to data. No matter how much data you collect, you can always find a polynomial that fits. The only predictive power comes in assuming you have enough terms in your polynomial. String theory is remarkably successfull, in that it yeilds what appears to be the natural form you need to fit high energy physics observations. Mathematically though it is a nightmare, in that you have to use intuition to subtract infinities to come up with constant values. Those "constant" values are what allows the theory to fit practically anything we experimentally observe. I think of it more as a form of mathematically day dreaming then actually calculating results.
Bill
