3 ms·

We want the theories to be unifiable because we're human. That's a pretty neat theory you have there, but I don't think the reality is as tidy as that! You mus

We want the theories to be unifiable because we're human. That's a pretty neat theory you have there, but I don't think the reality is as tidy as that! You must want it to be neat because you're human. :) For a very long time, nobody could figure out how to unify earth-bound mechanics (objects falling to the ground, remaining at rest until pushed, etc) and celestial mechanics (objects moving endlessly in not-quite-circular patterns). Most people were happy with this distinction, as it didn't cause any practical problems and fit well with religious ideas. As far as I know (but maybe somebody can correct me) there wasn't really a major push to unify the mechanics of earth and space until Newton figured out universal gravitation.

huxley 10y ago
Both Hooke and Huygens both pioneered many ideas in universal gravitation, but the key difference as I understand it wasn't that Newton had a better theory but rather a better tool: calculus
- saboot 10y ago
  This is a really important point. Numberphile had an interview with mathematician Terrence Tao recently [1] and he was asked if he works on big problems like the Riemann Hypothesis. His response was that we just don't have enough mathematical tools to fully tackle the problem. However when new tools become available he and many other mathematicians go through a list of problems and ask if any breakthroughs are possible. GUT Physics is also similar. M-Theory was a breakthrough when Witten combined many disjointed string theories together. Recently Arkani's Amplituhedron [2], based on advances in algebraic geometry, is able to calculate some previously complicated QFT integrals using simple algebra, hinting at underlying symmetries. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJ-zpJeY3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJ-zpJeY3E 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron

huxley 10y ago

Both Hooke and Huygens both pioneered many ideas in universal gravitation, but the key difference as I understand it wasn't that Newton had a better theory but rather a better tool: calculus

saboot 10y ago
This is a really important point. Numberphile had an interview with mathematician Terrence Tao recently [1] and he was asked if he works on big problems like the Riemann Hypothesis. His response was that we just don't have enough mathematical tools to fully tackle the problem. However when new tools become available he and many other mathematicians go through a list of problems and ask if any breakthroughs are possible. GUT Physics is also similar. M-Theory was a breakthrough when Witten combined many disjointed string theories together. Recently Arkani's Amplituhedron [2], based on advances in algebraic geometry, is able to calculate some previously complicated QFT integrals using simple algebra, hinting at underlying symmetries. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJ-zpJeY3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXJ-zpJeY3E 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron