Theos-Talk Archives (November 1999 Message tt00049)

For those of you who follow  the advances of Science, Los Angeles Times
published today a great article, title: "Time, Space Obsolete in New View of
Universe "

It can be read/download at:
http://www.latimes.com/print/19991116/t000104284.html


A few quotes from the article:


"... Now, some physicists are taking this revolutionary line of thinking one
step
further: If their theories are right, in the words of Edward Witten of the
Institute
for Advanced Study in Princeton, space and time may be "doomed."
Concurs physicist Nathan Seiberg, also of the institute: "I am almost certain
that space and time are illusions. These are primitive notions that will be
replaced
 by something more sophisticated."
That conclusion may not affect anyone's morning commute. But it is rocking
the foundations of physics--as well as causing metaphysical reverberations that

inevitably follow major changes in our fundamental understanding of how the
universe works.
The impetus behind this tumult is an idea that has become increasingly
dominant in modern physics: string theory. According to string theory, the most

 basic ingredients in the universe are no longer point-like particles, the
familiar
electrons and quarks. Instead, they are unimaginably small vibrating strings of

some unknown fundamental stuff.
String theory suggests that different configurations of strings produce
different
harmonic chords--just as a piano produces a sound different from that of a
flute.
The vibrating string gives rise to the particles, and the way the string
vibrates
determines each particle's properties. This all takes place in a convoluted
landscape of 11-dimensional space.
It is a concept so strange that even theoretical physicists struggle to
understand
 it. String theory offers a universe bizarre beyond imagining: Under powerful
enough magnification, every known particle in the universe would resemble a
complex origami folded out of sheets or strings of the three familiar spatial
dimensions, plus one dimension of time, plus seven extra dimensions of space.
..."

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