Jangchub wrote:
On 28 Aug 2006 20:56:07 -0700, "Mike" wrote:


If Einstein was alive, he'd have finished the Theory of Everything.
He was right on the cusp and possibly had the equation, but he died
before he wrote it down somewhere.

I just want to add a clarification about the physics here. Besides
working on the cosmological implications of general relativity Einstein
was, of course, working on the unified field theory and I should have
realized that that is what you meant by Theory of Everything. But
these are not the same. Einstein's attempts at unified field theory
had a very limited goal, namely to unify general relativity and
electromagnetism. He had a belief (which we now know to be mistaken)
that it would be possible to unify gravity and electromagnetism into a
single system and then make minor modifications so as to include the
weak force and strong force. Truth be told, Einstein was not keeping
up with the latest physics and he did not know much about the strong
and weak nuclear forces.
History turned out differently. The first unification combined
electromagnetism and the weak force. After that the strong force was
also incorporated. This gave rise to the so called "standard model"
with its current classification of quarks. The phrase "Theory of
Everything" (TOE for short) is always used to mean a unification of all
four fundamental forces. That is what we are seeking now.


I think string theory is a parallel system to the beliefs in Buddhism.
Then again, I don't know your working knowledge of the philosophy of
Buddhism. That would help. It's odd to me when someone poopoos
something they may not have fully examined. Clearly, I have said I am
not qualified in either case, but I hope to be able to stand up to any
challenge the more I learn about my own mind. Maybe by then I won't
bother. It's an incredible waste of energy.