Unifying Nature’s Laws: The State of String Theory
Einstein dreamed of a unified theory of nature’s laws. String theory has long promised to deliver it: a mathematically elegant description that some have called a “theory of everything.” Join one of the most influential groups of theorists ever assembled on a single stage to evaluate the current state of this most ambitious of theories.
The Big Ideas Series is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation.
Participants:
David Gross
Andrew Strominger
Edward Witten
Moderator:
Brian Greene
00:00 - Introduction
02:45 - Participant introductions
04:16 - Lord Kelvin and the end of physics
10:32 - Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity
18:15 - What is Quantum Field Theory?
26:12 - 1984 and the String Theory breakthrough
32:02 - Understanding the strong nuclear force
40:18 - Summary of String theory through time
48:09 - Where are we now in the journey of String Theory?
53:55 - Can String Theory give incite on Black Holes and the Big Bang?
1:02:12 - Has String Theory inspired breakthroughs in mathematics?
1:08:40 - Anti De sitter space / conformal field theory
1:16:00 - Has thinking changed by what has been found through String Theory?
1:24:00 - Final thoughts on the current state of String Theory
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It's hard to imagine we live in a time where a guy like me laying on his bed one afternoon could randomly come across a discussion between a group of four people - who are at the forefront of expanding human knowledge and our understanding of reality itself. It's WILD but I'm blessed I was born in such times.
spoken like a true slacker. GenX: rejoice ! 👏👏👏
Nothing was gained by theories in physics only gps and money for them by book lectures etc
@@georgepanathas2009And the thing you typed that on.
@@Dusty548 im refering to quantum physics not generally in technology
Physics doesn't describe reality, it describes appearances within and concepts of mind. We have no access to "reality"
I can't believe I can spend my weekends relaxing at home getting baked and listening to Brian freaking Greene talk about the universe. What a privilege!!!
cool to see Witten participating
The Dark Lord of Physics
@@jamiecarroll1262 He's far from it. Weinstein was just projecting himself, largely because he wishes he was born a century earlier without the W in his last name.
The World Science Festival is a great gift to humanity. To see and hear the very people who are moving forward our view of the Universe is an tremendous blessing.
what a privilege to see these world leading physics professors sharing their thoughts of the most profound questions in the universe!
Yes unusual to see a panel based on merit anymore
String Theory is dead. These guys are no better than theologians.
@@JimEadon Creo que tu afirmacion es muy acertada por desgracia, paciencia, hechos, realidad, logica, fuera de estos principios nos queda la religion, hacia donde queremos caminar?.
@@franvf8881 "I think your statement is very accurate, unfortunately, patience, facts, reality, logic, outside of these principles we have religion, where do we want to go?" (loosely translated). Yes, well said!
@@JimEadon Perfectamente traducido, le deseo tenga un buen domingo, saludos.
I understood maybe 10% of this conversation. yet i remain fascinated.
Brian Greene knocked it out of the park with moderating this panel and it helped so much that he was able to elaborate and move the conversation along naturally since this is all in his wheelhouse. Also huge shoutout to the editing team/magicians for dynamically updating the screen with graphics to explain and show what the speakers were talking about, like lighting up the standard model colors in real time. ❤
LOL You are one of those clusless fanboys. Nice hatdouche!
Bull. This is not science it’s quackery
You are telling that to people who are those matrix characters. Non-thinking useless nothings.@@bobdobs23
I don't think the visuals we see are the same that were displayed during the talk. It has to be edited to some degree.
@@bobdobs23ok boomer
What a high profile panel! Thank you Dr. Greene for bringing it together and for the excellent moderation. Thoroughly enjoyed 💯💯💯
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Don't trust him. String Theory is snake oil, not physics.
I'm ecstatic to hear Edward Witten views on string theory. One of the greatest physicist alive.
Good thing he has been around for over half of a century and has nothing to say except push more parroting propaganda that is not factual and has been the subject of debate for decades. Did you just wake up? Welcome to life. Na, go back to sleep you daydreaming know-nothing.
😂😂
Come on Gupta. Don't tell me you're one of the brainwashed. Not that I should expect any better. Esp with nothing to say such as that. Come on Guppy. Speak up or open up so I can make sure I fill it up to shut it up@@satishgupta2658
*CENSORSHIP COMMENT HIDDEN, why did they hide it???" Robinhund replied: "great mathematical mind, but "one of the greatest physicists alive" might be a stretch for a guy that, as far as ive heard, hasnt made a single verifiable discovery."
yes he is but he is a man and can be wrong. I think his greatness ruined physics because string theory is probably not the solution but nobody is working on other tehories or they are oppressed by the string theory community. That is why no improvement in physics happened since early 1980s
WHAT A PANEL! WOW! This was absolutely brilliant! Brian these uploads from live events have been absolutely incredible over the last couple months. Thank you SO VERY MUCH for the videos and everything you do in science. One day when we find the unified theory people involved are going to credit people like you and Sean Carrol and others for getting them interested in science in the first place, i m absolutely convinced of that.
Where is the criticism? Where the voices of string-sceptics? Where a true discussion of the critique of the theory?
@@kyaume21 Propaganda so as to obfuscate this. Shhh you will ruin it for the fanboys who watch yt videos and support their own ignorances by supporting these clowns who obviously are in on the "joke." This is disgusting. Both the pane of failure as well as the parrots in the crowd who had been manipulated to be so dull and void of any rational thought. My best to you! Keep up the good fight! They wouldn't know where to begin to think. 🙈
@@kyaume21 be realistic. This subject is so complex, and draws on so much related knowledge, that I genuinely think it a bit unreasonable to expect some perfectly weighted for and against discussion. These guys had their work cut out just trying to articulate the basic ideas, and what they had been doing. It's such an incredibly difficult subject to get to grips with, that having critique and counter arguments would have been really confusing, and wouldn't have helped the audience understand the strengths or principles of the theory. But - I agree that it would be interesting to hear a follow up debate, where the subject did receive much greater critical scrutiny.
@@kyaume21Eric Weinstein is the only public figure I have ever heard openly and vehemently criticize, question and denounce string theory. There may be others out there talking about it openly, but I've never seen or heard it.
Absolutely wrong. The panel are flogging a dead horse. String Theory is a joke.
Incredible that we can watch this all over the world on KZhead.. I wish more people spent their time caring about stuff like this.
In my opinion this should be required viewing for every citizen of our world. No politics, simply knowledge.
No politics in physics? Are you kidding?
Nice idea, but no. Most people, certainly in my country, wouldn't be in the least interested in something like this. And secondly, even if they did watch it, I don't think they would understand any of it. A discussion like this is very interesting to people who are already interested in science, in physics, in cosmology, and mathematics. People need to have an understanding of these things already, they must have at least pondered them, to make any sense of some the concepts discussed. Some of the concepts were very abstract but also ridiculously profound. Yes, of course, we can all see the human face to this science, the enthusiasm, the doubts, their hopes. These people have given their lives to this endeavour, but sadly, for most of the population, it would be wasted on them. Simply because they don't understand science.
@@richardconway6425or prefer mythology.
There is a lot of politics there. String Theory proponents have thwarted many other ideas to explain how the world works and for years most of the fundings went to string theorists. So universities are unfortunately not devoid of politics.
@@oskarskalski2982 Yeah, you’re definitely right about that!
I was pretty impressed with how everyone was able to synchronize with the graphics
What a fabulous panel! Thank you, Dr. Greene and WSF for this wonderful topic and panel of guests. You guys are killing it lately! Having this level of knowledge available with a simple click is amazing!
Don't fall for the hype. String Theory is dead. A joke.
These guys on the panel have burned a lot of money over decades, and now sit there empty-handed, nothing in return for the public who spent the money.
@@ytb40 Yes, and, even worse, they are lying to the public about their pseudo-science rubbish!
Holy cow. The amount of brain power on that stage. Well played sir! Well played!
They are promoting untestable pseudoscience.
Well, we have the top stars of string theory in one panel! Things just don't get much better!
You mean, "strings" just don't get much better. ;)
Just need that JFK magic B and we can clean up the sciences after mopping the floor.
@@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONytwhat a psycho
Add pizza
I need to watch this video again. Like a dozen times
Ed Witten sits perfectly still through out this entire discussion. I'd kill for a fraction of that personal discipline. Excellent content as always 👌
Aspergers helps.
💯
"A very simple assignment." 😂 Absolutely love this channel - such an inspiration for our little channel to try and inspire curiosity, awe and wonder as we seek to unravel the truth of the universe and our place in it. 🙌🧙🏻♂️✨
One of the best interviews I have ever seen, thank you so much !
The discussions of the senior physicists facilitated by WSF are so informative and will encourage many potential the young physicists to think. I teach classical Indian philosophy - trained in the non-dual world view and have ventured into interdisciplinary studies - especially quantum physics. Though being outside science, I can only depend upon what the scientists have discovered and have discovered. But I have learned so many things from modern physicists. I really thank the World Science Festival for what I have been learning. Philosophers are trained holistic things and sub-texts hidden among consistent or inconsistent data of science. I haven't yet heard anything which can go beyond what Advaita's Pure Existence- Consciousness- Bliss (developed in the 7th century by Sankara in Kerala, India) reflected in the joy felt by great mathematicians and path breaking scientists when they have discovered new truths
These are old men on the panel who burnt a lot of public's money for a nice lifestyle, and now have nothing to give back in return to society .
@@ytb40 not at all
Advaita is the study of the subject, and science is the study of object, so of course you need both as long as you are in the waking reality.
Can you plz stop this nonsense.
Holy shit! You got him 👏 👏 I'm severely addicted to physics Brian, and there's no cure, plus the lack of quality media on the subject has me fiendishly wanting more... just like this! 1½ hours for a 3 person panel on the hardest, deepest problems of the universe isn't enough time! Anyway, thanks 👍
You should waych the best one yet. Or several by Bill Gaede on the Rational Science channel. One of my favs is "Stringing Brian." Many newer live streams on the RT channel have plenty to say and call out the irrationality. Hey, how's your bong tonight? Or is it the crack pipe like Greene?
🤣WTAF?!? There’s actually people commenting that think they know more that 4 people with a combined IQ of 750-1000?!?
@@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONytPlease stop trying to spread stupidity. You don’t know more than ANYONE on the panel, especially Edward Witten.
@@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONyt ignorance, my friend, is a gift. Having said that, I will just ask, why do people with the highest IQ's on earth, ever, still attempt to advance string theory(which isn't really string theory anymore, but a successful mathematical bridging of GTR & QM)? Should they just give up? And why? There is a right answer, objectively. 🎁
Fanboy with nothing to say clearly. PROPAGANDA you WASTE and nothing more. You're so pathetic from the start of your parroting you overlooked what an explanation is.. Do you know what a description is??? Yes and you have the math to show just that. Amazing, truly, Worthy of an award and prize money. You, only having one view from a single learned way, repeated ad nauseam have nothing to say otherwise because you have taken no steps to further your eduction from anything other than the...""""""""STANDARD MODEL. """""""""" Eat *it, like a Chunky , @@TurdFerguson456 *sh
This is wonderful! So happy to see everyone enjoying themselves. Exciting to see Ed Witten so animated. Thank you.
One of Brian's best interviews. What an outstanding group of people. Thank you Brian and the physicist in this world keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot to WSF. For inviting these heavy-duty & outstanding professors. I learn every day. Great discussion!.
Tell me something you learned watching this.
Honest.
@@martinrutley-wk5dsI learned that string theory does not work.
Having Brian Greene without him mention Einstein is like having mass without gravity 😅
Three times in the first 2 minutes is not enough for you?
@@CosmosMarinerDU 🤣
gravity does not cause objects to have mass. Just sayin'.
@@richardconway6425 My suggestion is the other way around, all mass has a form of gravity
@@Chyoonz ah, quite right. It's the way I read it. My bad.
Congratulations Professor Greene. You are a master moderator. A virtuoso conductor. This panel discussion watched (can I say that) like a thriller. You managed to bring these difficult topics a little closer to us mere mortals by teasing out key concepts from your panelists like a maestro who gets the most of his string section (yeah, a bad pun). It was a privilege and a treat to watch this discussion.
Wait, how did they sync the audio visuals so tightly with their questions/answers. The piano strings, guitar sound, etc. Was this done in post? Great presentation, such brilliant minds.
I enjoyed listening to all, but Witten positively surprised me. He is always pleasantly concise and expert and has a good spirit.
And wrong.
What an amazing exchange of ideas and thoughts. Truly engaging! David Gross stood out for me as a speaker with a very cool aura. He could have nailed a career in Hollywood as a top notch antagonist, if he weren't a physicist.
2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
@@Average_But_Specific Absolutely a great scientist indeed. No doubt!
What a beautiful collection of TRUE scientists. Of course they are intelligent but more striking is how polite, humble, and understanding they are. Laying out the knowledge for everyone who wants to hear, no gatekeeping, no selling of some kind of product. True examples for future scientists, including myself.
Such a riveting conversation! The expedition from pursuing a unified theory to grappling with the amalgamation of quantum mechanics and general relativity proves to be genuinely captivating. String theory, in its endeavor to unite particles through oscillating strings, introduces a distinctive outlook to the quest. Eagerly anticipating further profound insight.
What an incredible panel, wow. Looks like I’m spending my weekend watching this on repeat. This video might just become my new favourite in the physics realm.
beautiful minds on display. thank you
This is a revelatory discussion. As a layman i understand that half have right over left legs crossed/ half left over right. 50% have ties/ 50% have no ties. Gotta love the.........duality. I think the attraction of ties towards each other needs a research paper at the very least.
Absolutely mesmerizing!!! Thanks for sharing these insights! As I have commented previously, if Brian Greene was speaking Chinese I would somehow think that I understood what he was saying.
I love watching his hands.
It was a great release. Thanks a lot WSF 🙏
Dedicating your life to a theory that can never be proven. What a wonderful advancement of science.
the 'emergence' of spacetime is extremely interesting. The first question is emergence from what? Also, the term emergence underlies the concept of time (past=no spacetime -> now is spacetime). Space and time are two different things from the start. Space as we know it is conceived with the concepts of left, right, top and bottom.Time as we know it is based on past and future and has this arrow or direction. So how about this: fundamental space and time have no directions but are somehow entangled 'cells' or fundamental units of directionless space and time (kind of randomly distributed for a lack of better description), and the 'emergence' is the manifestation of an orientation of space and time that gives rise to what we know of them in our daily life? And, I would even propose that the directionless space and time co-exists with their directed partners. Throwing few ideas...
Back in the early '90s, I took an intro into astronomy course. The professor had a mantra, "It looks good on paper", and it appears nothing has substantially changed.
Oh, that must be why they have to fudge the numbers. So much for all that.. 🤪🫵🙈
That's what many people, including some physicists, said about special relativity, in 1905.
yes, this is why those people rioted in the streets of Chicago, NYC, Paris, and London after Einstein proclaimed his dog💩dribble@@richardconway6425
This was a very good professor!
g.p.s won't work with out relativity, satellites communication, list goes on
Interesting stuff. Although it's my understanding that String Theory is background-dependent, meaning it needs spacetime before anything, yet here I hear David and Brian talk about emergent spacetime as part of String Theory? Secondly; Anti-deSitter space is not the right model for our own Universe, because it has a negative cosmological constant/vacuum energy density. Our universe is instead accelerating, with a positive constant. So to me that sounds like AdS/CFT could and can be incredibly useful as a model, but it's not a description of the real world as such. Then there's the issue with the apparent, ever-growing(?) complexity of string or M-theory - if that's how Nature works then fine, of course, but if it's possible to get an emergent 4D-spacetime (or really 3D space at least) and therefore quantum gravity out of regular old quantum mechanics as described by Sean Carroll and friends, then why bother with a string theory equivalent? Unless there's a duality there worth checking out, I guess. 🤔🤷🏻♂️ Finally there's the issue of supersymmetry, as well. Or current lack of observable evidence for it.
Imho…. supersymmetry will disappoint a lot of physicists🫤 (maybe disappoint is too strong of a word). It’d be great if they find evidence… but the LHC has been online now for 10-15 years.
Yes string theory is backgrounnd dependend but M-theory is not. Plus there is a string field theory by Ed Witten which is background independent. It is called boundary string field theory or BSFT
thank you all. excellent panel and discussion.
Only half way through. Wow, just wow. The panel. Dr. Greene’s mastery at leading a talk. The economy of language. The graphics. The respect each panelist has for the other panelist., and the humility to not jump ahead. Thank you so much for doing the this. Just Wow.
You are totally immersed and can’t wipe the smile throughout seeing them all the dignified faces on the stage never felt so proud of our human race. Indeed great minds
It's amazing the level of mental acrobatics these guys are willing to do in order to make string theory seem like a major achievement on par with newtonian mechanics and quantum mechanics. Especially from Brian Greene, it never stops. For everything they claim string theory does, they have to add in 5 caveats to explain why in practice it's not feasible or possible to do precisely in the real world, it smells real funky when you start digging into it.
You are missing a point here. Atm. String theory can potentially answer all questions of this universe, but there is atm. no way of test this. So, the value of string theory atm. is the many good minds, directed towards it, developing new maths and geometrical tools, that can be applied elsewhere ! The treasue chest they are trying to open, may be emty, but the lockpicking tools, can be used to open other chests !
@@zash5598 If it's not verifiable it's not a real theory. There were many times when mathematics lead physicists astray. That's why multiverse from inflation always will be just an interesting idea for sci-fi authors.
in other words, Carlo Rovelli has a point?
@@FABRIZIOZPH why are you mentioning Carlo Rovelli here? What kind of point had he made? If it was about string theory then he was probably right but he himself is working on for now unproven theory of gravity (one prediction that LQG made was disproven). Although I support him much more than string theorists.
@@zash5598the mathematical models show how the developers of the model think the world is, even more, how they would like the world to be. It's sort of a phantasy as long as it cannot be tested in the real world.
Perhaps the reason it is so difficult to produce experimental verification of String Theory is because the extra dimensions that seem to be required are not Spatial Dimensions but are some variation of Time dimensions or a mixture of Spatial and Time dimensions. Each time I see an explanation of the required Extra Dimension they are represented as Spatial in Nature. If a Vibrating String is the supposed foundation of all things then perhaps it would be worthwhile exploring the fact that a vibrating string is not only vibrating in Space but also must be vibrating through Time as well. So perhaps this fact may also also explain, in part, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. If Time itself is quantifiable then maybe this fact along with the interaction with Space at the quantum level would yield the answer we seek. perhaps.
Thank you for the most inspiring popular science conversation.
This was great. Thank you.
What part? Do you have a timestamp? Also, wtf do you know? I watched the entire thing and can point out every single flaw. Yet you stroke them and now you can go stroke yourself elsewhere. You are the problem you ignoranus
I give this show an A+++
Excellent seminar. I was lucky enough to attend one of these over the summer with Sean Carroll. I know it's just me, but I kept seeing David = Sheldon Cooper, Andrew = Leonard Hofstedder, Edward = Raj Koothrapali.....
Wonderful conversation! Thank you!
It was a great talk about good to go into some details. However, I wish Brian would have invited some critics of String Theory, like Neil Turok to counter act the A+ given by the supporters of String Theory to give the audience a more nuanced picture.
I was thinking the same thing.
Ah, but that might make some viewers critical of string theory, which might threaten his grant money! And he can't have that, since hype and book deals are the only thing keeping the corpse of a failed theory alive.
This could have been done in 2000 and they'd be having the same exact conversation, only with more crude infographics.
Maybe you should be on the next panel. You have it all figured out. Show these guys whats up.
Make the microscope bigger and bigger, and you get smaller and smaller things. Make the telescope bigger and bigger and the universe runs away from you. No matter how smart the physicists, reality can never truly be known from the perspective of the mind. Its rather significant that combining quantum physics with general relativity equations yield infinities. Instead of thinking of infinities as non-sensical, perhaps chasing non-infinite answers is non-sensical.
Prof Andrew Strominger and Prof Edward Witten, please provide a dedicated talk on Calabi-Yau space and string theory in terms of the tiny 6-dimension space based on your latest achievements. Thanks in advance.
The format should be more free flowing natural intellectual conversation rather than dictated. It feels so scripted.
I find it odd that when discussing Einstein's General Theory of Gravity, in which spacetime is curved by matter, we still view matter as a solid objects. It reminds me of the traditional view of the atom, a la Niels Bohr, in which we view electrons orbiting a solid nucleus of protons and neutrons. We now know of course that these 'particles' are really just concentrated perturbations in fields, and not static points. In pursuit of a unified theory, doesn't it make sense then to view 'objects' like planets and stars as nothing more than concentratated perturnbations of fileds? Yes, larger and more complex concentrations to be sure, but if we now view the universe as a tripartite spacetimematter system, the mathematical equations, which I admittedly am not capable of expounding, whould emerge?
I’ve heard different physicists say spacetime (especially time) might be an emergent phenomenon, instead of a fundamental phenomenon. I think when quantum computing really takes off… it may be possible to answer your question; and many others.
@bilinguru I don't think any physicist thinks of matter as 'solid'. It's a very misleading term. As far as GR goes, it's much more helpful to think in terms of energy, rather than matter. Energy is a fundamental property of the universe, whereas matter is not. Matter can be described as 'constrained energy', and whilst there is a direct equivalence between the two (SR), energy is the more fundamental. In the 'beginning', there was only energy in the universe. After some time, when conditions allowed it, matter emerged. GR is very clear that any concentration of matter or energy will cause a warping of both space and time. This is the classical view, but your description of a 'massive number of perturbations in quantum fields', that's a quantum mechanical view, and that's what this whole endeavour is all/mostly about. It's trying to find a way to derive or 'extrapolate' a gravitational field from first principles, from the tiniest, most fundamental building blocks of reality, in a way that is consistent with QFT.
Glad you are sitting down ❤
Even though I'm bad at mathematics, I still try to imagine according to the emerging space-time way of thinking: + Dimensions outside the 3 dimensions of space are the dimensions of scalar fields. + Take a visual example like the electromagnetic field - which is an emerging field of quantum mechanical phenomena. The oscillation frequency of electromagnetic waves originates from the oscillation of the source, regardless of what the source is. + What is energy? Energy is contained in vibrations. In spacetime, E = h.f. f is something related to time. h is a characteristic constant of spacetime. + 1 energy at a point in space-time must vibrate in another dimension. E = h'.f' with f'=h'.C'/λ'. C' and λ' are measures of the "length" and duration of the dimension. + A point in high-dimensional space cannot contain energy because the energy must be contained in waves. Some comments like that.
It's a bird. It's a plane. Wait no, it's String Theory!
I want debate with Eric Weinstein and Ed Witten . Just so I can understand what is right or wrong with string theory.
Witten would clean his clock
WickedStarFruit, FR my enthusiasm for WSF is off the grid! Filling my cup with this "introspective voodoo" and nuanced perspectives is like Popeye downing a can of spinach for the mind. Dr. Green shines as a data expo and moderator, orchestrating scientific inquisitions with trailblazing panelists. Their dynamic insights, rarely found elsewhere, are a true gift. Thank you, World Science Fair! you all are superstars and this is my kool-aid the flavor is WickedStarFruit signing off as differentsums.
They "shine" as salesmen who have cleverly sold "string theory" to the public, and now have to say that there is nothing that could come in return ...
Dr Witten won the Fields Medal???!! WOW
"to evaluate the current state of this theory..." woo hoo 🙏🏼👍🏼
Looking forward to this
I play a string instrument, so I am very familiar with the behavior of a vibrating string and its various parts. The analogy between a string and quantum fields is nothing but intriguing and it is reminiscent of Pythagoras and the music of the spheres!
proponents of string theory have been saying there's a big breakthrough around the corner in another 10 years- every 10 years- for the last 30 something years.
No dissenting voices were allowed? Without those, any valid assessment of the state of the theory, as a theory of real physics, cannot be derived from this discussion. Thus, it is only for the believers?
Yeah would have been fun to have Eric Weinstein there :)
This panel was for physicists, not internet celebrities.@@Brewbug
This wasn't a debate so I don't see what the point is. It's a panel about string theory. None of them gave any unreasonable opinion on the topic, all admitted it was pure speculation at this point.
@@Krispio666 It's been "pure speculation" that has failed to produce a single prediction or even the proposal of an experiment for 55 years. It's not even science, it's just cool sounding math that brings in grant money with promises of great advances that are always "just 10 years away." I don't get why people are so obsessed with this still.
It seems Prof Brian Greene loves string theory a lot.
Love is an understatement.
he takes strings up the butt! He loves it that much!
I mean it's his life's work I'd hope he loves what he does lol
But you can love something a bit too much, if you know what i mean ;) Some people take it to the extreme and start to place things into their behind for stimulation. @@system0fadowner251
Great lecture. I think they’re right in saying there’s stuff that needs to be invented to take the concept further. Maybe some conclusive thought experiment that provides the proof needed. The alternative is creating machine that needs the energy of a supernova to do the test, which is unrealistic.
I can express correctly my profound satisfaction with such bunch of luminaries. A++
They could have given this "update" 20 years ago. Oh, except for the fact that most supersymmetry models have been ruled out by the LHC. Very sad to see this panel minimize the mounting evidence against superstrings. They should be ashamed at the way they pimped this theory for decades as the final theory.
Agree. I have secondhand embarrassment watching this honestly.
Indeed, I regard these gentlemen more as clever salesmen than as physicists. The public has been given the runaround more than long enough ...
I feel like these physicists have been stringing us on for decades.
Okay Weinstein
Thank you Brian and guests.
1:29:57 thanks a lot to all great professors for the excellent discussion on this difficult subject. Best Regards😊
It's so cool to be able to see four guys, who compared to me have _STUPENDOUS_ intellects, especially in their chosen fields, and see they are able to laugh a bit at the quirks and foibles of their professions, just as a group of plumbers, or electricians, or yoga instructors, or school teachers can laugh at _their_ peer's quirks. 🙂 AND IT SEEMS the comment (that shows up just before mine on this screen) was written by someone kinda' making the same point!!!
Now if it's isolated in a sterile work environment there's just the one observer so it can be there or not be there
This is the problem. They use these sleight of hand parlor tricks as facts. Because there is only one way to come to the conclusion and you will always get the same result in real world conditions. lol This is the problem and all of these other POS waste in the comment section deserve to read this and dare to comprehend it.
Understanding consciousness objectively is key to putting Quantum Mechanics and Gravity together into Quantum Gravity.
You're right about consciousness, but I don't think it's putting quantum mechanics and gravity together. It's putting quantum mechanics and constant quantized time together. By that I mean the constant amount of time that has passed since the big bang, not the time relative to our locality. Our conscious minds are attached to the constant present moment or 5th dimension. However, our biological bodies of matter are connected to the relative fourth dimension of time.
It would be nice to hear a discussion between Ed Witten and Roger Penrose.
He is the only string theorist penrose respects because ed witten actually contributed to twistor theory with his mathematics from string theory
Thanks a lot. I have read many popular science books on string theory. Got more clarity after watching this great video 👍.
String Theory: An entire field of the study of physics primarily motivated by Brian Greene's publicist.
RiP to any that wasted 20/30/40 years on ST. All the elegent, major breakthroughs in physics had almost immediate applications. How long will you continue to flog this dead horse?
I don't think it's dead... it just doesn't run on a publicly accessible race course. ;-)
@@schmetterling4477 you could say that 😅
@@schmetterling4477 or a real race course if u know what i mean ;-)
String theory is not "dead", it's just been continuously redefined after each failure to mean "whatever its funded practitioners are working on lately."
This was a really great interview.
i have question: what exactly makes the calculations go into a mess.. why doesn't it make sense if you combine it? i would love to see such an calculation and what exactly is messy about it then - and also what if the answer is infinity?
Infinity Squared 010
Infinity squared is a circle.
0 within 0, an imploding 01 universe.@@Boballoo
TIMEISM Time ~ Timing ~ Relativity
String theory once so promising has despite it fitting so elegantly with our intuitive understanding. Seems to be unwinding as it needs more and more modifications and remains fantasy unless a way to test it comes around it will likely slowly go the way of so many other brilliant attempts to couple the two theories to make sense for our monkey brains.
Just what we need. More sleight of hand, I mean experiments. You know, to prove the answer is right. And no other way to come to the conclusion. You know sleight of hand. If you can grasp String Theory as being bunk you should be able to point out any example as to why. But you couldn't and you have said very little as you have no idea how to gather an original thought if you had to.
@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONyt atta boy Vicki. Show your trailer upbringing the very first chance. Go honey get it...grrrr Lol
@@arcradious2302notice he "likes" each of his own comments 😆
Excellent discussion. Strominger's closing remarks stuck with me. Does it mean that the original string theory project - to create a unified theory where elementary particles are vibrating strings (or branes) - is no longer central, even to supporters? If so, what term or terms should we be using to describe the current trends in physics?
Hi, you are new here. It is a fail and an embarrassment. Propaganda, controlled opposition, either one is the perfect fit. You choose.
@@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONyt Alter was für Drogen nimmst du so? Scheiß clown
@@VIKTORSCHAUBERGERscammersONyt🤦🏻♂️…… you’re leaving a trail of dumbass comments, like a pigeon leaves 💩 on a clean car.
The people you see on the stage are marketing experts, not necessarily physics experts. They sold string theory to the public, and now there comes nothing in return. Same way "dark matter" and "dark energy" is sold to the public by pseudo-religious priests who are not even fit to hold a candle to Einstein ...
Can't get enough of this stuff!
I believe in String Theory but if someday Ed Witten says his Math was wrong then I will believe in Ed Witten.
LOLoooooser They already have to make adjustments for the math. LOL go back to daydreaming you know-nothing with nothing to say.
As a fan of WSF, I am very disappointed with this episode. People who do not understand physics may get the impression that string theory is right. It would be fair to include someone with other opinion and talk more about the failure of string theory and how is not a physical theory at all, but just a mathematical framework.
One of the dudes got a nobel, so he's probably up to something
he got a nobel for strog nuclear force interaction 45 years ago, but string theory got no nobel price ever because is just wrong@@allantaylor420
string theory made great things for math, but it is not physic@@allantaylor420
@@allantaylor420the Nobel wasn't for the string theory.
Thomas Kuhn was right. Most scientists get trapped into a paradigm. Stringists seemingly stay within this trap willingly. Let's wait for a genius to destroy this trap.
Enjoyed the salon very much thank you .
A lovely video, but there is pathos too. They are not young, and there is an elephant in the room that they work so hard to ignore. The elephant whispers things like "that lightweight superpartner thing didn't work out, did it?" And "remember the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model?" And "It does seem we live in a de Sitter space - doesn't KKLT feel like purpose-built number torturing to you?" The elephant needn't be strident, but it is infinitely patient. It will never, never, never go away.
Entire careers spent pursuing this Non theory
Even if this theory is 100% wrong, the mathematical properties could be applicable elsewhere. Srinivasa Ramanujan’s work on pure mathematics proved to be valuable to black hole physics almost 100 years later. Just because what they’re working on isn’t verified within their lifetimes, doesn’t mean the topic should be completely thrown away.
Strings are a lie and barely a theory. Brian is salty that his life’s work is a null result. Take nothing he says at face value.
Love this panel! Amazing.
I think its fair to say - we live in an amazing time. Thank you for sharing Earths collective understanding of natures laws for the masses!
But what they've talked about are not a laws or nature in any way. For now string theory explains nothing. It is just a piece of nice looking mathematics.
Spoiler alert: String Theory is dead.
Spoiler alert. You are wrong. The opposite is true 😂
Have you seen the work of Dunning and Kruger?
People still do string theory? Funny stuff.
This discussion is unbelievably informative and entertaining. Some of the greatest minds in this field. It is reassuring to hear the greatest minds provide so much certainty but history proves that today’s certainty is tomorrow’s uncertainty and the day after’s different certainty. I have existed on this planet for 3 score years and 10, so I can say this without fear of ageism accusations. Brian Greene generally thinks the same thoughts that his guests do, and he really glues the discussion together. BUT …….. I would be really interested in the participants in the discussion being challenged by some of the “youngsters” in the “field”. There must be a new generation of physicists coming through who will develop existing theories and produce new truths. I am not sure I am ready to believe the youngster’s new truths but I would like to hear their challenges.
Dear God, you must be an American.
There are no challengers because they have to keep their mouth shut and have to praise these old men on the stage for their failures.
He is so calm and kind very naïve about life, but he is sweet and honorable