Re:Gravity: We might have been getting it wrong
by pdonis on Friday January 24, 2020 @09:25PM
(#22144223)
> It was my (lay) impression that we believe general relativity cannot be the final fundemental theory of gravity because general relativity itself is not consistent with quantum mechanics.
That's the same as "not a quantum theory", which is what I was saying. "Consistent with quantum mechanics" requires "is a quantum theory", according to the many physicists I was referring to.
> Right now we have two separate theories (general relativity / quantum mechanics) that can't be combined because they conflict with each other.
Most physicists believe that they conflict, yes. But not all. Freeman Dyson, for example, has speculated that gravity might just be different and not require a quantum theory the way the other interactions do.
Re:Gravity: We might have been getting it wrong
by ncmncm on Friday January 24, 2020 @10:22PM
(#22144420)
> the problem is either in the theory of gravity or the theory of quantum mechanics, and we have to be getting one of them wrong.
Not true: we could also be getting them both wrong.
Re:Gravity: We might have been getting it wrong
by thaumasiotes on Friday January 24, 2020 @11:06PM
(#22144599)
There is no way to be getting both of them wrong but not be getting one of them wrong.
It was my (lay) impression that we believe general relativity cannot be the final fundemental theory of gravity because general relativity itself is not consistent with quantum mechanics. Whether general relativity is a quantum theory or not is beside the point; we want to have a theory -- any theory -- that is consistent with itself. Right now we have two separate theories (general relativity / quantum mechanics) that can't be combined because they conflict with each other.
Obviously, that in itself doesn't prove that the problem is in the theory of gravity, but it does prove the problem is either in the theory of gravity or the theory of quantum mechanics, and we have to be getting one of them wrong.