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PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
have a theory of everything-a theory that will allow us to calculate not
just the Standard Model, but also the value of the cosmological constant, which will determine the ultimate fate of the universe.
So a theory of everything is necessary to determine the ultimate
fate of the universe. The irony is that some physicists believe that it is
impossible to attain a theory of everything.
A THEORY OF EVERYTHING?
As I mentioned earlier, string theory is the leading candidate for a "theory of everything," yet there are opposing camps on whether the string
theory lives up to this claim. On the one hand, people like MIT professor Max Tegmark write, "In 2056,1 think you'll be able to buy a T-shirt
on which are printed equations describing the unified physical laws of
our universe." On the other hand, there is an emerging band of determined critics who claim that the string bandwagon has yet to deliver.
No matter how many breathless articles or TV documentaries are produced concerning string theory, it has yet to produce a single testable
fact, some say. It's a theory of nothing, rather than a theory of everything, claim the critics. The debate heated up considerably in 2002
when Stephen Hawking switched sides, quoting the incompleteness
theorem, and said that a theory of everything might even be mathematically impossible.
It's not surprising that the debate has pitted physicist against physicist, because the goal is so lofty, if elusive. The quest to unify all the
laws of nature has tantalized and lured philosophers and physicists
alike for millennia. Socrates himself once said, "It seemed to me a superlative thing-to know the explanation of everything, why it comes to
be, why it perishes, why it is."
The first serious proposal for a theory of everything dates back to
about 500 BC, when the Greek Pythagoreans are credited with deciphering the mathematical laws of music. By analyzing the nodes and
vibrations of a lyre string, they showed that music obeyed remarkably
simple mathematics. They then speculated that all of nature could be
PHVSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
have a theory of everything-a theory that will allow us to calculate not
just the Standard Model, but also the value of the cosmological constant, which will determine the ultimate fate of the universe.
So a theory of everything is necessary to determine the ultimate
fate of the universe. The irony is that some physicists believe that it is
impossible to attain a theory of everything.
A THEORY OF EVERYTHING?
As I mentioned earlier, string theory is the leading candidate for a "theory of everything," yet there are opposing camps on whether the string
theory lives up to this claim. On the one hand, people like MIT professor Max Tegmark write, "In 2056,1 think you'll be able to buy a T-shirt
on which are printed equations describing the unified physical laws of
our universe." On the other hand, there is an emerging band of determined critics who claim that the string bandwagon has yet to deliver.
No matter how many breathless articles or TV documentaries are produced concerning string theory, it has yet to produce a single testable
fact, some say. It's a theory of nothing, rather than a theory of everything, claim the critics. The debate heated up considerably in 2002
when Stephen Hawking switched sides, quoting the incompleteness
theorem, and said that a theory of everything might even be mathematically impossible.
It's not surprising that the debate has pitted physicist against physicist, because the goal is so lofty, if elusive. The quest to unify all the
laws of nature has tantalized and lured philosophers and physicists
alike for millennia. Socrates himself once said, "It seemed to me a superlative thing-to know the explanation of everything, why it comes to
be, why it perishes, why it is."
The first serious proposal for a theory of everything dates back to
about 500 BC, when the Greek Pythagoreans are credited with deciphering the mathematical laws of music. By analyzing the nodes and
vibrations of a lyre string, they showed that music obeyed remarkably
simple mathematics. They then speculated that all of nature could be