Andrea Griffini wrote: > Wow... I always get surprises from physics. For example I > thought that no one could drop confutability requirement > for a theory in an experimental science...
Some physicists (often mathematical physicists) propose alternate worlds because the math is interesting. There is a problem in physics in that we know (I was trained as a physicist hence the "we" :) quantum mechanics and gravity don't agree with each other. String theory is one attempt to reconcile the two. One problem is the math of string theory is hard enough that it's hard to make a good prediction. Another problem is the realm where QM and GR disagree requires such high energies that it's hard to test directly. > I was told that > in physics there are current theories for which there > is no hypotetical experiment that could prove them wrong... > (superstrings may be ? it was a name like that but I > don't really remember). If we had a machine that could reach Planck scale energies then I'm pretty sure there are tests. But we don't, by a long shot. Andrew Dalke -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list