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Ask Brian Greene: Why Study String Theory?
Brian Greene continues the WSF Live Forum all month long. Each day, he’ll answer one of your questions for this ongoing series that delves into the fundamental nature of space, time, and reality as we may or may not know it. Why are so many physicists chasing string theory when, after 30+ years, there is still no means of testing it? —C Gulow (via BoingBoing) The primary goal of string theory is to join the laws of quantum mechanics (the laws of the “small”) with the laws of general relativity (the laws of the “large”), into a single mathematically consistent framework. This is vital because in the standard formulation (without string theory, say), the union of quantum mechanics and general relativity leads to mathematical inconsistencies, sort of like what happens on a calculator if you divide 1 by 0. And since the universe is surely consistent, we need a mathematical description that’s consistent too. Without such a consistent formulation, for example, we don’t stand a chance of fully understanding the origin of the universe or what happens in the deep interior of black holes. Melding quantum mechanics and general relativity is a tough nut to crack; to date, very few …
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