Читать книгу String Theory For Dummies - Andrew Zimmerman Jones - Страница 63

At present, string theory faces two hurdles. The first is the theoretical hurdle, which is whether a model that describes our own universe can be formulated. The second hurdle is the experimental one, because even if string theorists are successful in modeling our universe, they’ll then have to figure out how to make a distinct prediction from the theory that’s testable in some way.

Right now, string theory falls short on both counts, and it’s unclear whether it can ever be formulated in a way that will be uniquely testable. The critics claim that growing disillusionment with string theory is rising among theoretical physicists, while the supporters continue to talk about how string theory is being used to resolve the major questions of the universe.

Only time will tell whether string theory is right or wrong, but regardless of the answer, string theory has driven scientists for years to ask fundamental questions about our universe and explore the answers to those questions in new ways. Even an alternative theory would partly owe its success to the hard work performed by string theorists.