Friday, January 26, 2007
String Theory
Creationists of the intelligent design variant sometimes take comfort from the fact that their theory isn't the only one that's untestable. Increasingly, they point out that string theory hasn't been tested either.
Red State Rabble and a group of friends heard the Columbia physicist Brian Greene speak to a large audience in Kansas City last night about string theory. Greene's provocative lecture provided a brilliant tour de force of thinking from Newton's discovery of the laws of gravity to the puzzling world of quantum theory. It was well received by the audience in -- almost all of whom raised their hands when asked if they were aware of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.
(Before we go on, imagine the results of a similar poll conducted at an intelligent design sermon.)
We have no idea if string theory will ever be proven, however we can be certain that intelligent design "theorists" are making a mistake if they take comfort from the notion there's any similarity between their old-as-the-hills Bible-based nostrums and the new interest in string theory.
Here are some basic differences:
Red State Rabble and a group of friends heard the Columbia physicist Brian Greene speak to a large audience in Kansas City last night about string theory. Greene's provocative lecture provided a brilliant tour de force of thinking from Newton's discovery of the laws of gravity to the puzzling world of quantum theory. It was well received by the audience in -- almost all of whom raised their hands when asked if they were aware of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.
(Before we go on, imagine the results of a similar poll conducted at an intelligent design sermon.)
We have no idea if string theory will ever be proven, however we can be certain that intelligent design "theorists" are making a mistake if they take comfort from the notion there's any similarity between their old-as-the-hills Bible-based nostrums and the new interest in string theory.
Here are some basic differences:
- Physicists who are attracted to the explanatory power of string theory do not advocate teaching it in high school physics classes.
- Greene, the author of The Elegant Universe presents string theory not as proven, but as an intriguing hypothesis.
- If string theory can be tested, it will explain a number of puzzling observations about the relationship between the microworld of particle physics and the macroworld where general relativity rules. In other words, it will advance human knowledge of the workings of the universe and open up new areas of research.
Intelligent design does none of that.
