String theory pros and cons

In this video I explain why so many physicists believe in string theory but that it also comes with a number of problems. It requires the existence of additional dimensions of space (which we do not see), of new particles (which we do not see), and of new fields (leading to deviations from Einstein's general relativity). It has trouble coping with the cosmological constant and the dream that string theory would be a unique theory of everything has failed due to the discovery of the string theory landscape.

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[bosoerjadi]

5:36 Severest burn in science ever.. Delivered with kindness and understanding though.

[jonathanrobertson]

When I was enthusiastically studying physics in college, I asked my professor (a very smart man) what he thought about string theory. He said, more or less, "String Theory is a wonderful, beautiful theory that has absolutely no experimental data whatsoever to back it up." That was over 15 years ago.

[joaidane]

Sabine's enthusiasm for string theory is perfectly displayed by her overall "I don't really want to spend too much time talking about this" demeanour. You gotta love it ;)

[hawks]

Sabine, you're a delight. A breath of fresh air. Rein in your peers, listening to them is like watching Ancient Aliens.

[Woowas]

This is the most cold "See you soon" I've ever heard.

[Philomats]

String theorist get an ‘E’ for effort. Thanks for the clarity Sabine.

[stephenkormanyos]

Thank you for the video.
I grew up in the 60’s with a father who was a high energy particle physicist who did work at Fermilab, and wrote his PhD at Michigan, and a mother who was a mathematician who did work in X-ray crystallography. Dinner conversations were rough to say the least with riveting topics ranging from “Favorite identities that equal 1, ” “How many ways can you derive pi today?” and the ever popular “Favorite functions for analytic continuation.” Beauty and symmetry in math and physics were the key themes here, and my dad was convinced that the boson of Higgs et al. could be found if only we had a particle accelerator of high enough energy. The only time I remember my dad speechless was when my mom then blurted out “your Standard Model might give you mass, but error in the Standard Model is so profound that any damned fool with just a telescope can tell you stars in our own galaxy aren’t in a proper array if it were true—you need a better idea, not a bigger gun.” The topic quickly changed to Feynman integration, I went into the “soft science” of medicine, and I guess my mom may have won that debate in the end.
Steve K.

[edp]

5:48 : "string theory has not been entirely useless". Wow. That is damning with faint praise!

She is the myth-buster of physics! lol....

[fredricksmith-something.]

I now use " not because its interesting, but because its not interesting" at work. Thanks Sabine

[MrMalvolio]

Sabine’s wonderfully deadpan, ironic pragmatism is UTTERLY BRILLIANT!

[mactorresmo]

I'm time traveling to admire the young Sabine explaining the failures on String Theory! Great work!

[johngeverett]

She is one of the best at explaining these concepts I have ever seen. Intelligent, informed, and articulate.

[gregg]

Basically, String Theory is full of epicycles at this point.

[terminalarray]

When I was studying Engineering, I would hear a lot about String Theory and M-Theory. But I remember my Electromagnetics and Waves Professor gave us a small talk on why he thinks it's beautiful, but a dead-end with very little application or testability.

Now 5 years later listening to you really drives that lecture home.

[gashery]

Just found your channel and had to pass on a comment on what a delight it is to listen to your sound reasoning. Strict yet gently balancing the most relevant arguments of a certain topic. An absolute pleasure, thank you.

[palfers]

I very much like your clear diction and exposition. It makes difficult things seem easier.

[bammbammbahama]

My favourite channel... Educating those that want to learn, and using a style that allows the audience to retain the concepts, and to continue to digest the material throughout the day, and into the future....Thank you for sharing...

[teashea]

This series provides the most compact source of information of any video series (even PBS).

[Libertyfudge]

Thank you Sabine! I just finished “The Trouble with Physics” because of your recommendation in this video