String Theory needs to take a crap or get off the freaking pot.

Largest misdirected waste of money, time, and research.

I'm amazed at the legacy left to us with quantum theory and mechanics and yet we insist on chasing pots of gold at the end of rainbows, what a shame.

Discuss.

Bold statements. What do you know--I admit that I only read UNIVERSE ON A T-SHIRT by Dan Dalk--which back them?

String Theory - tied up in knots or hanging on a thread?

Hanging on a Thread until LHC goes online... soon.

If W boson scattering doesn't turn out, and/or supersymmetry takes a crap, time to
can string theory into the failed category. It has a somewhat fanatical following the
results will be quite interesting. I wager 1 dollar that supersymmetry doesn't exist, and
75 cents that the W boson scattering doesn't show up right, and 1 million dollars that if
that occurs the theory will be reshaped in a highly nontrivial way, given a new face and
more wasted money.

Books I like:
The Trouble With Physics
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law

Granted, string theory seems like a castle in the sky, but if it was completely useless, then research on it would not get funded. If you have a better alternative to string theory, then get funded and publish and change the course of the physics community.


Why are you still reading this? Get to work!

THE CYCLIC UNIVERSE [5.16.07]
A Talk with Neil Turok

"In recent years, the search for the fundamental laws of nature has forced us to think about the Big Bang much more deeply. According to our best theories - string theory and M theory - all of the details of the laws of physics are actually determined by the structure of the universe; specifically, by the arrangement of tiny, curled-up extra dimensions of space. This is a very beautiful picture: particle physics itself is now just another aspect of cosmology. But if you want to understand why the extra dimensions are arranged the way they are, you have to understand the Big Bang because that's where everything came from."

Edge Video

NEIL TUROK holds the Chair of Mathematical Physics in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge University. He is coauthor, with Paul Steinhardt, of ENDLESS UNIVERSE: BEYOND THE BIG BANG.

[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge210.html#turok

You are behind the times, string theory was replaced in the 80's by the Super String Theory.

And don't forget super-duper string theory which replaced ordinary super string theory. Next week they plan to come out with the newest theory which is that the moon is made of string cheese. Stay tuned.

I am no expert in the field but have followed the progress for the past few years. I understand the math is well worked out and waiting for confirmation.

The field and its practitioners have redeemed themselves by discovering deeper and more interesting insights into Quantum Field Theory than ever would have been found by phenomenologists or by traditional formal quantum field theorists. Spin-offs of string theory including D-branes, AdS/CFT, orbifolds, dualities, supersymmetry, and new dimensions have all found their way into testable particle physics phenomenological model building, and particle theory would be would be completely moribund without them. Also some interesting experiments have been done in response to some of the string-inspired models, such as tests of the gravitational inverse square law at the sub-centimeter level, that would not otherwise have been conceived, and which very well might find something revolutionary. Other approaches to quantum gravity dont offer many such spin-offs, as far as I can tell, and neither do other formal approaches to quantum field theory.