Re:What every physicist should know about string theory
by whatshisface on Monday February 11, 2019 @11:33PM
(#19141057)
The trouble is that strings is more of a framework for physics to fit in to (like quantum mechanics) than it is a physical theory. There isn't a specific list of string particles, just like there isn't a list of Schrodinger equation particles. You have to add in whatever particles you discover, and then the theory tells you how they move.
On the bright side, if there was a single particle that didn't move like a string, string theory would be falsified. On the dim side, it's difficult for anything to not move like a string, because string theory is so powerful as a framework that you can get it to make just about anything consistent. What you really want in physics is a brittle framework that only allows you to slot in a few different behaviors.
It's kind of funny because programmers want the opposite thing that physicists do. When your client asks for a behavior that you have painted yourself into a corner against ever implementing your software has been "falsified," an expensive disaster that you work very hard in advance to prevent! If you made universes for a living, strings would be an ideal framework.
On the bright side, if there was a single particle that didn't move like a string, string theory would be falsified. On the dim side, it's difficult for anything to not move like a string, because string theory is so powerful as a framework that you can get it to make just about anything consistent. What you really want in physics is a brittle framework that only allows you to slot in a few different behaviors.
It's kind of funny because programmers want the opposite thing that physicists do. When your client asks for a behavior that you have painted yourself into a corner against ever implementing your software has been "falsified," an expensive disaster that you work very hard in advance to prevent! If you made universes for a living, strings would be an ideal framework.