GUTs, TOEs and UFOs

GUTs are Grand Unification Theories, TOEs are Theories of Everything and we all know what UFOs is. Finding a GUT or a TOE is the Holy Grail of today’s physics and it is generally referred to as “Unification.” Unification is all about unifying the electromagnetic forces of Quantum Theory with the gravitational force of Relativity Theory thus bringing the four known basic physical forces under a single theory. String Theory is the most commonly known of the unification theories. I want to look closer at String Theory in order to show just how unreal it really is. But first, it is necessary to cover a few basic need to know things about unification in general.

First there is nothing in any of the sciences, Quantum Theory or Relativity Theory that requires the unification of Quantum and Relativity theories and their associated forces into a single theory. The “need” to unify these things into a single theory is completely man made. This really does beg the question, if nature doesn’t require unification why does today’s science feel the necessity to do this? An even bigger question, if there is nothing in nature that says unification is necessary what make science think that unification is even possible and that there is only “one” theory for everything?

Another consideration, there are significant differences between Quantum and Relativity that common sense indicates cannot be overcome for a single theory for both. Relativity has to do with the very big things and long separation distances. Such as stars, galaxies and the universe. Quantum deals with the very smallest things and very, very short distances. Like quarks, atoms and molecules. Additionally, Relativity is deterministic while Quantum is probabilistic. In Relativity information leads to a real and specific determination while in Quantum things are imaginary and based on a probability. In other words, at the most basic level for Quantum and Relativity they simply do not match up, and there is in all likelihood no way to get them to come together.

Also, in order to find a single theory that unites Quantum and Relativity shouldn’t science completely understand both Quantum and Relativity? It seems that simple logic would dictate that science should pretty much need to know all there is to know about Quantum and Relativity before it might be possible to combine these things. You have to know all that you can about things that you combine together before you can really understand what they mean when they are combined. This is actually backwards from the position that science currently has. It is believed that by unifying Quantum and Relativity and coming up with a single all-inclusive theory for both this single theory can be used to answer questions about both that will allow science to understand things that are currently not understood. All of this begs a straightforward question, if Quantum and Relativity are not completely understood in the first place how can science know that the answers from a unified theory are right?

So now, let’s take a quick look at String Theory and see just how far science is away from being able to provide any simple answers about unification and any of the GUTs and TOEs that are supposed to go with it.

String Theory is the most common of all of the various unification theories. There has been a lot written about it and the amount of publicity it has received is such that pretty much everybody has heard of it. The most famous characteristic of String Theory is that this theory is based upon multiple dimensions. These are not dimensions like the three dimensions we are familiar with because of the world we live in. No, these dimensions are supposed to occur in the space below the smallest distance we know of. Let me give you a few more details about this; one form of String Theory has 10 dimensions, 9 space dimensions and one of time, another one has 11 dimensions, 9 of space, one of time and one of energy, and another one has 26 dimensions. And, in all of these different String Theories these extra dimensions are “compactified” down into a space that has a distance so small we can never ever see it or work within it. This really does beg the questions can science really understand a distance this small? If we cannot ever see this distance or work within it, how can we know what is really happening in String Theory? The name of this distance is the “Planck Length.”

Are we really supposed to accept something such as this that can never be proven, or disproven? Oh, and it gets better; String Theory actually has an infinite number of possible dimensions. That is, pick a number, any number and that number of dimensions can exist in String Theory. The current number of String Theory dimensions has been “discovered” because they do not blow up mathematically. In other words, out of an infinite number of possible dimensions, science will only look at a couple because they work. Let’s go one step further, given that there are an infinite number of possible dimensions how does science know that in theory 500, 5000 or even more dimensions are not possible? If 10, 11 or 26 dimensions are acceptable who is to decide that this is where we stop? And, an infinite number of possible dimensions also means that there are also an infinite number of impossible dimensions.

A last bit to think about. In order to overcome the scale difference between Relativity (really large and great distances) and Quantum (really small and very short distances) scientist have come up with the “graviton.” The graviton is a particle, so in fits in Quantum, that mediates gravity, so it fits in Relativity. This is an interesting solution to the problem. However, according to Relativity nothing, including particles, travels faster than the speed of light. If this is the case how can a black hole that has gravity as strong as the speed of light have gravity away from the black hole? Wouldn’t the gravitons be stuck inside the event horizon of a black hole because their speed is not high enough to allow for escape?

Let’s take a moment to consider all of the problems discussed above with respect to the science of unification and String Theory. And let’s also consider all of the evidence that exists throughout history and even today regarding UFOs and ETs. Science tells me that String Theory and unification are real, but UFOs are not. This just seems a little backwards to me.

I leave it up to the reader to judge and decide.