Physics’ greatest mystery: Michio Kaku explains the God Equation | Big Think

Physics’ greatest mystery: Michio Kaku explains the God Equation
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"It's no exaggeration to say that the greatest minds of the entire human race have made proposals for this grand final theory of everything," says theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

This theory, also known as the God Equation, would unify all the basic concepts of physics into one. According to Kaku, the best, most "mathematically consistent" candidate so far is string theory, but there are objections.

"The biggest objection is you can't test it," Kaku explains, "but we're getting closer and closer."
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MICHIO KAKU:

Dr. Michio Kaku is the co-founder of string field theory, and is one of the most widely recognized scientists in the world today. He has written 4 New York Times Best Sellers, is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning and has hosted numerous science specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery/Science Channel. His radio show broadcasts to 100 radio stations every week. Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as New York University (NYU).

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TRANSCRIPT:

MICHIO KAKU: What is the mind of God, that Albert Einstein chased after for 30 years of his life? Einstein wanted an equation that would unify gravity, electromagnetic force, and the two nuclear forces. He wanted unification of all four forces into one theory. The theory of everything, the God Equation.

My name is professor Michio Kaku. I'm a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, and author of the recent book "The God Equation: The Quest for the Theory of Everything." Leonard Euler, one of the great mathematicians of human history, found one equation which summarized the fundamental constants of math. One plus e to the i pi equals zero. People call that the God Equation of Mathematics. Now of course the God Equation is useless as a practical application, but think now of a God Equation for physics. Physics is quite useful. When Newton worked out the mechanics of moving objects and gravity, he helped to lay the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution. And then Maxwell and Faraday united electricity and magnetism to give us the electromagnetic force. The electric revolution of dynamos, generators, and light bulbs. And now we have e equals mc-squared, which helped to pave the way for the nuclear force. Each time a force was unraveled, it changed human history. And now, we want to put the whole thing together into the God Equation, fulfilling Einstein's original dream.

The God Equation, just like the God Equation of Mathematics, should unify the basic concepts of physics into one equation. Now, what are these basic concepts? Relativity and the quantum theory. The problem is, the quantum theory does not unify well with general activity. See general activity of Einstein is based on smooth surfaces. The quantum theory is based on chopping things up into particles. That's the opposite of Einstein's philosophy of smooth curves representing space-time. That's why it's so difficult. It's no exaggeration to say that the greatest minds of the entire human race have made proposals for this grand final theory of everything. Each one was shown to be anomalous or divergent. So far, there's only one theory which has survived every challenge: string theory, which is what I do for a living. Now, what is string theory? From a distance, an electron looks like a dot. The neutrino is another dot. The quark is another dot. We have all these dot particles. How many dot particles? Hundreds of them. But, string theory says if you can peer into the heart of an electron, you will see that it's a rubber band. A tiny, tiny vibrating string, very similar to a guitar string. There's an infinite number of vibrations and that is why we have subatomic particles. The subatomic particles each correspond to a different set of vibrations of a rubber band. String theory allows you to rotate particles into each other turning electrons into neutrinos, neutrinos into quarks, and the theory remains the same. That is the symmetry of the string, and that's why it's so powerful. A simple idea that encapsulates the entire universe.

[bigthink]

Which basic concepts of physics would you like to learn more about?

[abhirupchakrabarty]

“Physicists are made of atoms. A physicist is an attempt by an atom to understand itself.”
― Michio Kaku

[medicationofsuccess]

Whoever is reading this right now, we will probably never meet but I wish you all the best. Keep fighting for your dreams and goals!

[RTPTechTips]

Gotta love Michio Kaku. His passion and attitude makes you want to learn more. And makes it fun to listen to.

[ITIsFunnyDamnIT]

I love how he breaks down very complicated physics so we can at least imagine the possibilities, even though there definitely a lot I will never understand he makes it interesting and makes me wonder the many possibilities. What will people be saying in 50 years from now about things we thought we knew? It never ends

[charliereina]

Dr. Kaku. Nice to see you still educating us on the exciting elements of life in the Universe. You and I met in December of 1999, when I was a producer at Fox News Channel working on our Y2K special. The program, focusing on what the future held for humankind, was a big success, and in my opinion you were the star.

[aakashgupta]

Things like these make me regain my interest in physics even when I don't feel like studying it, I try to imagine what all possibilities lie beyond what we know so far!

[conservativehawk]

Professor Kaku is incredible. He makes physics sound fun. How many of us felt like learning more about String Theory after watching this? Probably most of us.

[xxRishaBabiixx]

This man is a genius. He was actually my father's professor

[danielclv]

I remember watching Michio Kaku's shows on discovery science as a kid, he made me interested in science and I probably learned English from those shows, and if I traveled back in time to close the TV then, it's likely I wouldn't go back to being an engineer. I'm a little sad to see him getting older 10 years later, but I'm glad that he is as passionate about string theory as ever. It's funny how some people can change your life without them ever knowing.

[afgdfdgdfddf]

A true scientific finishes his sentence with: "we don't know".

[santinodellera]

Michio Kaku it's such a great professor. He is at the frontline of modern physics and still has the charisma and inteligence to explain his concepts in a simple manner for everyone to understand. We're lucky to be witnessing a man making history in science. Simply amazing

[superflydan]

Michio is such a gem for the world. Pushing our minds is always a good thing! I don't understand most of his ideas, but I try, it he is so inspirational!

[AakashSharma-lepm]

I always think whenever watching such videos that how the hell Einstein came up with all these amazing facts and theories on his own. It boggles my mind thinking about it. Truly a genius.

[Zenkka]

Seeing this precious man Mr Kaku is a throwback somehow

[Paul-lmgv]

He has an amazing ability to explain even the most complex scientific theories in a way most people can understand! And I love how he speaks! His students are very fortunate!

[TheGradeFootballer]

"Perhaps" is to Physicists what "basically" is to powerpoint presenters.

[Hello-tvfb]

Me who scored 4 and a half out of 100 in my final physics paper
Me to myself : what are you doing here?

[purplebroccoli]

I love you and your books Mr. Kaku🥺 I'm almost clueless when it comes to physics but your books are so well written that I could understand the concept to some extent. I am easily hooked on reading every line in your books because they all are intriguing. Thank you and wish you everything ❤️

[newzealandallblacks]

It only took one year of physics at uni to demonstrate to me that I would be better off studying biological sciences 😊. The mind of a high level physicist is an awesome and occasionally strange thing to behold when it is on display. I have great respect for any scientist who is also an educator!