The March Discover Magazine has an interview with Columbia physicist Brian Greene regarding the very esoteric theory of the universe called "String Theory". For those PBS watchers, we can remember Dr. Greene had a special program on string theory with very good graphic illustrations. Both for the physicist as well as others the theory is plenty esoteric. In fact, one has to wonder where science ends and where speculation begins. String theory is an attempt to bring together quantum theory and general relativity. This theory attempts to unify all theories and some people say it the theory of everything. For those wishing to read more here is the link to the string theory wiki. One of the strange results of this theory is that there is (at least) 11 dimensions along with multiple universes. One of the peculiar things to me is the lack of scientific verification. In the past science has been influenced by the philosophy of logical positivism which requires all science to be either verifiable or falsifiable. Most of the confirmation of this theory is purely mathematical. See this quote from Jim Holt concerning string theory.
"For more than a generation, physicists have been chasing a will-o’-the-wisp called string theory. The beginning of this chase marked the end of what had been three-quarters of a century of progress. Dozens of string-theory conferences have been held, hundreds of new Ph.D.s have been minted, and thousands of papers have been written. Yet, for all this activity, not a single new testable prediction has been made, not a single theoretical puzzle has been solved. In fact, there is no theory so far—just a set of hunches and calculations suggesting that a theory might exist. And, even if it does, this theory will come in such a bewildering number of versions that it will be of no practical use: a Theory of Nothing." -- Jim Holt.
Here is how Brian Greene responds in the Discovery magazine interview.
"Critics of string theory have called it unscientific because it is not falsifiable. How can we evaluate string theory?
Falsifiability for a theory is great, but a theory can still be respectable even if it is not falsifiable, as long as it is verifiable. There are aspects of a theory that you can go out and look for and confirm, and that’s another way to gain confidence in it. For instance, it’s really hard to falsify the statement that there is life on another planet, but you can verify it by finding one example. We’re hoping that certain features of string theory are confirmable."
Falsifiability for a theory is great, but a theory can still be respectable even if it is not falsifiable, as long as it is verifiable. There are aspects of a theory that you can go out and look for and confirm, and that’s another way to gain confidence in it. For instance, it’s really hard to falsify the statement that there is life on another planet, but you can verify it by finding one example. We’re hoping that certain features of string theory are confirmable."
Yet despite the lack of evidence string theory it is a hot topic in theoretical physics. It is ironic that 50 years ago scientists criticized theists for believing in a transcendent world (universe) that is not detectable by instrumentation. Today scientists believe in an undetectable transcendent universe because the math points to it. Could it be that naturalists and theists are coming closer together?
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