Is String Theory Still Alive and Kicking?

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Ten years ago, i mention string theory in a non negative way on by blog. An editor from new scientist said he didn't think that people took string theory seriously any more. What does your insiders take on string theory and its current status? Ah, it's a good question. Adied tthers, there' py a fast answer and a long answer. And the long answer is in a couple of chapters in my book. String theory as a, as the theory of nature, i think a is there. We just don't understand well enough how, in detail, the theory could be related to nature.

Modern particle physics is a victim of its own success. We have extremely good theories — so good that it’s hard to know exactly how to move beyond them, since they agree with all the experiments. Yet, there are strong indications from theoretical considerations and cosmological data that we need to do better. But the leading contenders, especially supersymmetry, haven’t yet shown up in our experiments, leading some to wonder whether anthropic selection is a better answer. Michael Dine gives us an expert’s survey of the current situation, with pointers to what might come next.

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Michael Dine received his Ph.D. in physics from Yale University. He is Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz. Among his awards are fellowships from the Sloan Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, American Physical Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Sakurai Prize for theoretical particle physics. His new book is This Way to the Universe: A Theoretical Physicist’s Journey to the Edge of Reality.

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