GUTs, ToEs AND UFOs
Which has More Evidence, the Goals of Modern Science or the Science Fiction of Modern Science?
Finding the GUT (Grand Unified Theory) and then the ToE (Theory of Everything) is one of the largest goals of today’s physics. It seems that the general belief is that finding one, preferably both of these things, will deliver to us the knowledge of the universe. That is, once the quantum forces of the universe are unified via a GUT, the next short step away will be a ToE. These two physics discoveries will tell us everything there is to know about the universe. And, all of the the physics of the universe questions that are baffling today’s modern physicist and scientist will be answered.
As for UFO’s (Unidentified Flying Objects), this topic has a lot of social media attention and notoriety in todays world. The current modern knowledge of physics says that UFOs that are not of this earth are not possible. Thus the belief that UFOs are not real and therefore must be considered as science fiction. Science fiction or not, there is a large amount of evidence that UFOs do exist. And, how do we know that the physics we know today is all of the physics that the universe has to offer. In other words, there could be, most likely is, a whole lot more physics that exists in this universe that we simply do not understand or know about. Finding a UFO would be world breaking news. However, being able to find a UFO that is not from our world is not really our choice.
Finding the GUT and a ToE are noble and worthy efforts. The search for these things generally started with Einstein, as well as other noted physicists and scientists of Einstein’s time. In 1865, about 40 years before Einstein’s ground breaking work with gravity, James Clerk Maxwell published his ground breaking equations that combine electricity and magnetism into a single force. In essence electricity can create magnetism and magnetism can create electricity. This relationship between electricity and magnetism is viewed as two different aspects of a single force, the electromagnetic force.
Given the two theories that describe the most basic forces known at the time, gravity and electromagnetism, Einstein was intellectually motivated to combine the two theories. His attempts at combining gravity and the electromagnetic force was known as his “unified field theory.” This is generally the beginning of searching for a GUT and a ToE.
As physics progressed two more “forces” were discovered, the strong force, (this is the one that holds quarks together in order to make protons and neutrons) and the weak force (this is the one that basically changes neutrons into protons and a couple of other things). In other words, these forces are only related to, and work with the smallest particles we know of in modern physics. And with these two additional forces we now have the four known forces of the universe, electricity and magnetism, gravity, the weak force, and the strong force.
In the 1960’s Physicists Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam are credited with unifying the electromagnetic force with the weak force to form the concept of the electroweak force. That is, this was a mathematical evaluation that combined these forces. Through the 1970’s and 1980’s experimental evidence believed to be associated with the weak force has been used to confirmed the mathematical association of the weak force and the electromagnetic force.
Since the strong force is also directly related to the interaction of the smallest known particles, it too was believed that it must somehow be related to the electroweak force. However, as of today, there is no mathematics or indirect experimental evidence that relates the strong force in any way with either the electroweak force. This is where the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) comes in. It is the theory that is going to combine the strong force and electroweak force into a single force.
However, modern science currently says there are four known forces in the universe and gravity is the odd force out. That is, it has no known relationship to the other three forces. This is where a Theory of Everything (ToE) comes in. It is going to be the theory that combines gravity with the other three forces, electromagnetic force, weak force and the strong force. Carrying this one step further, gravity is directly associated with relativistic physics, which is the physics of large things in the universe. The other three force are associated with the small things in the universe, which is quantum physics. So, a ToE can also be considered as the theory that is going to combine quantum physics with relativistic physics. It is a single theory that is going to describe every thing that happens with the biggest and the smallest things in the universe all at once.
DISCUSSION
The obvious first question to ask is how does modern physics know that the universe has a GUT and a ToE?
The answer to this question is very straight forward, it doesn’t! There is zero evidence that a GUT or a ToE exists in the universe. Or, that the universe we live in even requires or needs a GUT or a ToE. Recall from above, the “need” for a GUT and a ToE generally started with Einstein and his “intellectual need” for a unified field theory. In other words, physicists needed to unify the forces and their associated physics into a single theory, not our universe . The general concept of a GUT or a ToE is man made. 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.
In the current most accepted theory for the beginning of our universe, the Big Bang, there is a sub-theory that at the beginning of the universe all four of the forces, gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force were all combined together in some kind of a single force. That is, the overall amount of energy, temperature and density in the early universe was so high that it fused the four forces we see today into a single force, kind of like a super-force. This could also be considered as the beginning of a ToE. What this super-force did in the early universe, how it got there and how it could be the beginning of a ToE is yet to be determined.
As the universe expanded and began to cool down and lose energy the super-force started to break apart. At first gravity breaks away from the super-force leaving the strong force, the weak force and the electromagnetic force still combined, the beginning of a GUT. Shortly after gravity broke off, the strong force broke off, leaving the weak force and the electromagnetic force still combined, the electroweak force. Finally, a short time later, the weak force and the electromagnetic force also separated giving us the four forces we see in the universe today.
So, how is the order of the super force breaking apart known, and how is the timing of the forces breaking apart established? These are open questions as specific answers are unknown.
Another straightforward question: If the combining of all four of the forces requires an extreme amount of energy, temperature and density how can a GUT or a ToE be determined now that brings all of the forces together given the current low energy, temperature and density of the universe? Asked another way, how is it that the four forces can be recombined given the conditions in the current universe? And, modern science shows us that the universe is expanding, which cause energy, temperature and density to drop even more which would increase the difficulty of combining the forces into a GUT and a ToE.
Moving on from the theoretical questions with respect to GUTs and ToEs, look at the weak force. It is actually not a force, rather it is an interaction which why it is currently called the weak interaction not the weak force. The most common interaction involves the neutron and the W or Z boson particles. A W or Z boson particle interacts with a neutron and flips it into a proton and a couple of other things. Here is the problem, there are two kinds of neutrons, ones with a right-handed spin property, and ones with a left-handed spin property. The weak interaction only works with left-handed spin property neutrons, not the right-handed spin neutrons.
None of the other three forces have this kind of selective activity. For example, the electric force of the electron reacts with both positive and negative electric charges. If it were like the weak interaction it will only work with one of the charges, not both of them. Given the significant difference in how electricity and magnetism work compared to the weak interaction one has to wonder how real is the combination of electromagnetism and the weak interaction?
Regarding the strong force compared with the electromagnetic force and gravity; with both gravity and the electric force the further you move away from the source of the gravitational and electric force the weaker the force becomes. The strong force only works with quarks, it is the force that hold quarks together in the proton and neutron. The strong force is like a spring, if the quarks are close together the strong force is normal and there is a minimal amount of force between the quarks. However, if you try to pull two or more quarks apart the strong force grows stronger the further you move the quarks apart from each other. The strong force is so strong that if you could pull two quarks apart the amount of energy to do this is so high that two more quarks will immediately form and combine with the two quarks you pulled apart making sure that neither of the two quarks is alone. This means that the strong force does not allow there to be single quarks in the universe.
Despite the significant differences in the strong force, the electromagnetic force and the weak force/interaction, a GUT is going to combine these three forces into a single force that allows them to work the way the do in the current conditions of our universe.
As for gravity, it is the weakest of all of the forces and interaction. The electric force is almost a trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion times stronger than gravity. And the strong force is estimated at about 100 times stronger than the electric force. Additionally, gravity only really works on the biggest things in the universe, such as stars, planets and galaxies, while the electric force, strong force and weak interaction only work on the smallest things, the elementary particles and atoms. However, a ToE is going to be able to over come all obstacles and combine gravity, the force of the very big, with the other three force, which are the forces of the very small.
There are many more questions and concerns associated with combining the known forces into a GUT and ToE. There is one more concern that needs to be covered, the “graviton.” The graviton is a so far undiscovered particle, so in fits in Quantum Theory. The graviton is the part of quantum gravity that mediates gravity. The graviton is also a part of string theory. But string theory is a mathematical model of how the quantum universe works. Since string theory is a mathematical model there are no experiments which can prove string theory is real. And the current mathematics associated with combining string theory and relativity is so problematic that it cannot be done. In other words, the two thing are not compatible. Yet, that is still the goal.
As for evidence of UFOs, there is a lot. There are multiple photos and videos. There are witnesses of all professions; military, law enforcement, pilots, scientists and of course the average person. There are also multiple websites, such as MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, (https://mufon.com/) and UFO Casebook (https://www.ufocasebook.com/) just to name two. There are also multiple professional and government reports on UFOs and UFO sightings. Similarly, the governments of many countries have done multiple investigations and filed reports on UFOs. And, many governments have a dedicated agency within the government specifically for investigating and researching UFOs.
One of the most recent reports from the US government was on June 25, 2021 titled Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, (https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf). The report was submitted to congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). This report looked at 144 reports filed between 2004 and 2021, mostly by military aviators who were using reliable equipment for data collection. Of the 144 reports reviewed, 1 was found not to be a Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP or UFO).
If only one of the 144 UFO reports in the congressional report was discovered not to be a UFO, what does this say about the reality of the thousands upon thousands of non-military reports?
CONCLUSION
Establishing a Grand Unified Theory and the Theory of Everything, are the holy grail of modern science. UFOs, are the science fiction of modern science because they are so elusive and we simply cannot and do not understand how they work. Additionally, we cannot touch or study a UFO. Truth be told we also cannot study a GUT or a ToE. Simply because something cannot be touched or studied does not make it unreal. This fact is noted daily in modern science as they go about looking for a GUT and a ToE. However, UFOs are not viewed in the same manner because modern science does not afford UFO’s the same breath of reality as they do GUTs and ToEs.
When the actual actions of the electromagnetic force, the weak interaction/force and the strong force are compared, it is clear that none of them have any common characteristics. If they have nothing in common, how is it possible that they can all be combined? Nature and the universe has provided zero information or evidence that these three unique and distinct forces of the very small should be combined in a single force via a Grand Unification Theory.
As for gravity, it has absolutely nothing in common with any of the three forces discussed above. There is no comparison between the characteristics of gravity and the characteristics of the other three forces. And once again, there is nothing in nature or the universe that says or requires gravity to be combined with the other three forces.
In summary, nothing about a GUT or a ToE has a real connection to nature or our universe. And, there is no evidence that either of these things exist. If nature doesn’t require unification why does today’s science feel the necessity to find a Grand Unification Theory or Theory of Everything? Furthermore, if there is nothing in nature that says unification is necessary, what makes modern science think that unification is even possible?
For comparison, there are thousands of unexplainable photos and video evidence of UFOs. There is evidence from electronic monitoring devices such as RADAR and infrared cameras. And, there are thousands upon thousands of observations by people of all walks of life throughout history, including trusted eye witness accounts. Additionally, governments throughout the world believe there is enough evidence for UFOs and have establish some type of agency to investigate UFOs.
So, what has more evidence for existence, GUTs and ToEs or UFOs?
One last consideration, we have a little over 100 years of modern science knowledge of the universe. But, the universe is over 13.8 billion year old, (our definition of time). Given our limited time to learn about the universe modern science believes that we almost know all there is to know and completely understand in our universe so that we can discover a GUT or a ToE. Some might consider this to be incredibly hubris.
Steve Guderian, 25 June, 2023
Which has More Evidence, the Goals of Modern Science or the Science Fiction of Modern Science?
Finding the GUT (Grand Unified Theory) and then the ToE (Theory of Everything) is one of the largest goals of today’s physics. It seems that the general belief is that finding one, preferably both of these things, will deliver to us the knowledge of the universe. That is, once the quantum forces of the universe are unified via a GUT, the next short step away will be a ToE. These two physics discoveries will tell us everything there is to know about the universe. And, all of the the physics of the universe questions that are baffling today’s modern physicist and scientist will be answered.
As for UFO’s (Unidentified Flying Objects), this topic has a lot of social media attention and notoriety in todays world. The current modern knowledge of physics says that UFOs that are not of this earth are not possible. Thus the belief that UFOs are not real and therefore must be considered as science fiction. Science fiction or not, there is a large amount of evidence that UFOs do exist. And, how do we know that the physics we know today is all of the physics that the universe has to offer. In other words, there could be, most likely is, a whole lot more physics that exists in this universe that we simply do not understand or know about. Finding a UFO would be world breaking news. However, being able to find a UFO that is not from our world is not really our choice.
Finding the GUT and a ToE are noble and worthy efforts. The search for these things generally started with Einstein, as well as other noted physicists and scientists of Einstein’s time. In 1865, about 40 years before Einstein’s ground breaking work with gravity, James Clerk Maxwell published his ground breaking equations that combine electricity and magnetism into a single force. In essence electricity can create magnetism and magnetism can create electricity. This relationship between electricity and magnetism is viewed as two different aspects of a single force, the electromagnetic force.
Given the two theories that describe the most basic forces known at the time, gravity and electromagnetism, Einstein was intellectually motivated to combine the two theories. His attempts at combining gravity and the electromagnetic force was known as his “unified field theory.” This is generally the beginning of searching for a GUT and a ToE.
As physics progressed two more “forces” were discovered, the strong force, (this is the one that holds quarks together in order to make protons and neutrons) and the weak force (this is the one that basically changes neutrons into protons and a couple of other things). In other words, these forces are only related to, and work with the smallest particles we know of in modern physics. And with these two additional forces we now have the four known forces of the universe, electricity and magnetism, gravity, the weak force, and the strong force.
In the 1960’s Physicists Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam are credited with unifying the electromagnetic force with the weak force to form the concept of the electroweak force. That is, this was a mathematical evaluation that combined these forces. Through the 1970’s and 1980’s experimental evidence believed to be associated with the weak force has been used to confirmed the mathematical association of the weak force and the electromagnetic force.
Since the strong force is also directly related to the interaction of the smallest known particles, it too was believed that it must somehow be related to the electroweak force. However, as of today, there is no mathematics or indirect experimental evidence that relates the strong force in any way with either the electroweak force. This is where the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) comes in. It is the theory that is going to combine the strong force and electroweak force into a single force.
However, modern science currently says there are four known forces in the universe and gravity is the odd force out. That is, it has no known relationship to the other three forces. This is where a Theory of Everything (ToE) comes in. It is going to be the theory that combines gravity with the other three forces, electromagnetic force, weak force and the strong force. Carrying this one step further, gravity is directly associated with relativistic physics, which is the physics of large things in the universe. The other three force are associated with the small things in the universe, which is quantum physics. So, a ToE can also be considered as the theory that is going to combine quantum physics with relativistic physics. It is a single theory that is going to describe every thing that happens with the biggest and the smallest things in the universe all at once.
DISCUSSION
The obvious first question to ask is how does modern physics know that the universe has a GUT and a ToE?
The answer to this question is very straight forward, it doesn’t! There is zero evidence that a GUT or a ToE exists in the universe. Or, that the universe we live in even requires or needs a GUT or a ToE. Recall from above, the “need” for a GUT and a ToE generally started with Einstein and his “intellectual need” for a unified field theory. In other words, physicists needed to unify the forces and their associated physics into a single theory, not our universe . The general concept of a GUT or a ToE is man made. 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.
In the current most accepted theory for the beginning of our universe, the Big Bang, there is a sub-theory that at the beginning of the universe all four of the forces, gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force were all combined together in some kind of a single force. That is, the overall amount of energy, temperature and density in the early universe was so high that it fused the four forces we see today into a single force, kind of like a super-force. This could also be considered as the beginning of a ToE. What this super-force did in the early universe, how it got there and how it could be the beginning of a ToE is yet to be determined.
As the universe expanded and began to cool down and lose energy the super-force started to break apart. At first gravity breaks away from the super-force leaving the strong force, the weak force and the electromagnetic force still combined, the beginning of a GUT. Shortly after gravity broke off, the strong force broke off, leaving the weak force and the electromagnetic force still combined, the electroweak force. Finally, a short time later, the weak force and the electromagnetic force also separated giving us the four forces we see in the universe today.
So, how is the order of the super force breaking apart known, and how is the timing of the forces breaking apart established? These are open questions as specific answers are unknown.
Another straightforward question: If the combining of all four of the forces requires an extreme amount of energy, temperature and density how can a GUT or a ToE be determined now that brings all of the forces together given the current low energy, temperature and density of the universe? Asked another way, how is it that the four forces can be recombined given the conditions in the current universe? And, modern science shows us that the universe is expanding, which cause energy, temperature and density to drop even more which would increase the difficulty of combining the forces into a GUT and a ToE.
Moving on from the theoretical questions with respect to GUTs and ToEs, look at the weak force. It is actually not a force, rather it is an interaction which why it is currently called the weak interaction not the weak force. The most common interaction involves the neutron and the W or Z boson particles. A W or Z boson particle interacts with a neutron and flips it into a proton and a couple of other things. Here is the problem, there are two kinds of neutrons, ones with a right-handed spin property, and ones with a left-handed spin property. The weak interaction only works with left-handed spin property neutrons, not the right-handed spin neutrons.
None of the other three forces have this kind of selective activity. For example, the electric force of the electron reacts with both positive and negative electric charges. If it were like the weak interaction it will only work with one of the charges, not both of them. Given the significant difference in how electricity and magnetism work compared to the weak interaction one has to wonder how real is the combination of electromagnetism and the weak interaction?
Regarding the strong force compared with the electromagnetic force and gravity; with both gravity and the electric force the further you move away from the source of the gravitational and electric force the weaker the force becomes. The strong force only works with quarks, it is the force that hold quarks together in the proton and neutron. The strong force is like a spring, if the quarks are close together the strong force is normal and there is a minimal amount of force between the quarks. However, if you try to pull two or more quarks apart the strong force grows stronger the further you move the quarks apart from each other. The strong force is so strong that if you could pull two quarks apart the amount of energy to do this is so high that two more quarks will immediately form and combine with the two quarks you pulled apart making sure that neither of the two quarks is alone. This means that the strong force does not allow there to be single quarks in the universe.
Despite the significant differences in the strong force, the electromagnetic force and the weak force/interaction, a GUT is going to combine these three forces into a single force that allows them to work the way the do in the current conditions of our universe.
As for gravity, it is the weakest of all of the forces and interaction. The electric force is almost a trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion times stronger than gravity. And the strong force is estimated at about 100 times stronger than the electric force. Additionally, gravity only really works on the biggest things in the universe, such as stars, planets and galaxies, while the electric force, strong force and weak interaction only work on the smallest things, the elementary particles and atoms. However, a ToE is going to be able to over come all obstacles and combine gravity, the force of the very big, with the other three force, which are the forces of the very small.
There are many more questions and concerns associated with combining the known forces into a GUT and ToE. There is one more concern that needs to be covered, the “graviton.” The graviton is a so far undiscovered particle, so in fits in Quantum Theory. The graviton is the part of quantum gravity that mediates gravity. The graviton is also a part of string theory. But string theory is a mathematical model of how the quantum universe works. Since string theory is a mathematical model there are no experiments which can prove string theory is real. And the current mathematics associated with combining string theory and relativity is so problematic that it cannot be done. In other words, the two thing are not compatible. Yet, that is still the goal.
As for evidence of UFOs, there is a lot. There are multiple photos and videos. There are witnesses of all professions; military, law enforcement, pilots, scientists and of course the average person. There are also multiple websites, such as MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, (https://mufon.com/) and UFO Casebook (https://www.ufocasebook.com/) just to name two. There are also multiple professional and government reports on UFOs and UFO sightings. Similarly, the governments of many countries have done multiple investigations and filed reports on UFOs. And, many governments have a dedicated agency within the government specifically for investigating and researching UFOs.
One of the most recent reports from the US government was on June 25, 2021 titled Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, (https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf). The report was submitted to congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). This report looked at 144 reports filed between 2004 and 2021, mostly by military aviators who were using reliable equipment for data collection. Of the 144 reports reviewed, 1 was found not to be a Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP or UFO).
If only one of the 144 UFO reports in the congressional report was discovered not to be a UFO, what does this say about the reality of the thousands upon thousands of non-military reports?
CONCLUSION
Establishing a Grand Unified Theory and the Theory of Everything, are the holy grail of modern science. UFOs, are the science fiction of modern science because they are so elusive and we simply cannot and do not understand how they work. Additionally, we cannot touch or study a UFO. Truth be told we also cannot study a GUT or a ToE. Simply because something cannot be touched or studied does not make it unreal. This fact is noted daily in modern science as they go about looking for a GUT and a ToE. However, UFOs are not viewed in the same manner because modern science does not afford UFO’s the same breath of reality as they do GUTs and ToEs.
When the actual actions of the electromagnetic force, the weak interaction/force and the strong force are compared, it is clear that none of them have any common characteristics. If they have nothing in common, how is it possible that they can all be combined? Nature and the universe has provided zero information or evidence that these three unique and distinct forces of the very small should be combined in a single force via a Grand Unification Theory.
As for gravity, it has absolutely nothing in common with any of the three forces discussed above. There is no comparison between the characteristics of gravity and the characteristics of the other three forces. And once again, there is nothing in nature or the universe that says or requires gravity to be combined with the other three forces.
In summary, nothing about a GUT or a ToE has a real connection to nature or our universe. And, there is no evidence that either of these things exist. If nature doesn’t require unification why does today’s science feel the necessity to find a Grand Unification Theory or Theory of Everything? Furthermore, if there is nothing in nature that says unification is necessary, what makes modern science think that unification is even possible?
For comparison, there are thousands of unexplainable photos and video evidence of UFOs. There is evidence from electronic monitoring devices such as RADAR and infrared cameras. And, there are thousands upon thousands of observations by people of all walks of life throughout history, including trusted eye witness accounts. Additionally, governments throughout the world believe there is enough evidence for UFOs and have establish some type of agency to investigate UFOs.
So, what has more evidence for existence, GUTs and ToEs or UFOs?
One last consideration, we have a little over 100 years of modern science knowledge of the universe. But, the universe is over 13.8 billion year old, (our definition of time). Given our limited time to learn about the universe modern science believes that we almost know all there is to know and completely understand in our universe so that we can discover a GUT or a ToE. Some might consider this to be incredibly hubris.
Steve Guderian, 25 June, 2023
