PW Question #6 ~ Were you shocked?

[bluebird]

Nebraska wrote: I don't know if I actually understood more later or if I knew I would never understand and it was ok to just read and pretend after that.

I'm still reading... not giving up... But I, too, think I'm doing a lot of pretending... I read a paragraph, nod and think I'm getting it, then the next paragraph throws me off completely and I have to go back and read the previous paragraph...

re: shocked... I'm shocked that I'm not giving up on this :)
bluebird

[gemini]

I am not sure if quantum mechanics and string theory are the same thing or completely different,

Just one thing I did grasp that helps is that, relativity deals with big things and quantum mechanics deals with small things. String theory combines quantum mechanics and general relativity.

[fansmom]

re: shocked... I'm shocked that I'm not giving up on this :)
bluebird

Too funny!

[fansmom]

I don't know if this is the appropriate place to say this, but at one point (sorry, no page number right now) Dr. Kaku mentions that the entire universe might be expressed in music.

Around page 196 in the hardcover?

[suec]

I guess I got stuck at the point of musing about the infinite on the one hand, and the infinitesimal on the other, and wondering if there are are an infinite number of infinitesimals There surely do seem to be a lot of different names for them. As you can see, I am most deppinitely in the not understanding camp. String theory is supposed to be moving towards the theory that explains quantum mechanics and general relativity, right?
I've finished the book, but it does really depend on how you define reading. My eyes moved over every line - well, nearly. I did skip the occasional paragraph because I didn't get something. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle where I see bits of the picture and think OK, I've got that, but can't relate it to anything else. But that's OK. I am content. (And tone deaf, BTW, which probably explains a lot.)

[Liz]

String theory is supposed to be moving towards the theory that explains quantum mechanics and general relativity, right?

I think it is a theory that tries to explain “everything”? Or am I confusing theories?

Bluebird & Suec, you crack me up, and I can relate.

[gemini]

String theory is supposed to be moving towards the theory that explains quantum mechanics and general relativity, right?

I think it is a theory that tries to explain “everything”? Or am I confusing theories?

Bluebird & Suec, you crack me up, and I can relate.

Actully you are right it does try to explain everything. Here are a couple definitions from the pros.

String theory offers a way to reconcile general relativity, which describes gravity and large objects, with quantum mechanics, the physics of the extremely small.

String theory is a developing branch of theoretical physics that combines quantum mechanics and general relativity into a quantum theory of gravity.