Why a theory of everything will never be discovered on our current path.

[Quasar]

Because most people that take science courses take everything they learn as gospel, its almost as if science is the new religion. For instance we have never seen an atom or a blackhole, that's right they are theories. The word theory itself means "has not been proven." Science is full of theories.

You might say well what about all the technology we have. Well, name me one thing that we have ever built that works perfectly? Does your cell phone or computer work perfectly? No. Its getting better because once these machines begin to mess up u have to fix it but these days the programs are already installed into these products and they fix themselves. The reason they mess up is because our knowledge is only accurate up until a certain amount of decimal places and over a period these errors add up and become apparent.

There is a scientific maxim regarding laws, goes something like the more complex a theory the more likely its wrong. Well, does needing to invent new dimensions, multi-verses and a new particle practically every day to justify their theories sound like things are getting more complex rather than simpler?

 

[Quasar]

The reason atoms and black holes are theories is because the theories that explain them are imperfect and we know it. Relativity explains black holes yet its incompatible with the most successful theory of all time which is quantum theory. Atoms are particles yet were not sure if particles even exist or whether they are strings or if they even there.

I am in the process of trying to figure out what we know about this universe because I have a theory of my own and that what I am having to do is find out what we know, how we know and I am finding out that most things that are taken to be true by the layman which I am is actually BEST GUESSES. Which is comforting.

 

[Archaea]

Hi Quasar,

Here's what I think. I think Einstein, Dirac and all the other people who developed modern physics were geniuses, but unfortunately, the fact that they were geniuses meant that their theories were exempt from any kind of critical peer review or quality control.

I am in the process of trying to figure out what we know about this universe because I have a theory of my own and that what I am having to do is find out what we know, how we know and I am finding out that most things that are taken to be true by the layman which I am is actually BEST GUESSES. Which is comforting.

I have my own theory too, we should compare notes ;)

 

[Kisito]

Because most people that take science courses take everything they learn as gospel, its almost as if science is the new religion. For instance we have never seen an atom or a blackhole, that's right they are theories. The word theory itself means "has not been proven." Science is full of theories.

You might say well what about all the technology we have. Well, name me one thing that we have ever built that works perfectly? Does your cell phone or computer work perfectly? No. Its getting better because once these machines begin to mess up u have to fix it but these days the programs are already installed into these products and they fix themselves. The reason they mess up is because our knowledge is only accurate up until a certain amount of decimal places and over a period these errors add up and become apparent.

There is a scientific maxim regarding laws, goes something like the more complex a theory the more likely its wrong. Well, does needing to invent new dimensions, multi-verses and a new particle practically every day to justify their theories sound like things are getting more complex rather than simpler?

When you is at your home and when you look through the window. The wind can blow, and you don't see it, you don't hear it and you don't feel it. Because certain things are beyond our senses, but of the observation.

 

[ec1968]

For instance we have never seen an atom or a blackhole, that's right they are theories.

Sorry, this is not correct! Individual atoms have been visualised many times using the atomic force microscope. And right now, astrophysicists are imaging the black hole at the centre of our galaxy as it swallows up an enormous gas cloud.

 

[Buddy]

I am in the process of trying to figure out what we know about this universe because I have a theory of my own and that what I am having to do is find out what we know, how we know and I am finding out that most things that are taken to be true by the layman which I am is actually BEST GUESSES. Which is comforting.

It would be very interesting to read a new theory or even a new take on an old theory.

Have you read any of Miles Mathis' work? He'll take you back to the simpler algebra and linear maths of Einstein's beginnings (and those who came before) and then show you where the maths begin to separate from the underlying mechanics they were intended to explain.

It takes a careful study to avoid the temptation to succumb to the ad hominem attacks and mis-characterizations of others and there may even be places in Mathis' work that contain errors as he himself remarks, but he asks for people to converse civilly and constructively with him in order for him to take them seriously.

Once you've read a few hundred of his several thousand papers, you'll probably understand why.

As an aside, studying and understanding Einstein's work will probably make you emotionally alternate between celebrating the genius and greatness of human thought and creativity and raging at some of the pure ignorance of some simple mental foibles that make you want to scream.

And I'm not making this up. In James Gleick's Genius, a biography of Richard Feynman, there is the story about Feynman talking with Freeman Dyson about Einstein's "loss of productivity" after a certain point in his (Einstein's) career. Feynman's opinion, which was agreed with by Dyson, was that the greatness in Einstein's work came from his physical intuition and when he stopped thinking and reasoning in concrete images, he became a mere manipulator of equations leading us to get lost and eventually whine about how "nobody understands this stuff!" or something similar. :)

It's very refreshing to read anyone who can put the ground back under the abstractions in general science or this particular area.