I've recently enjoyed a lecture series on string theory [0] and it seems to me that string theory is primarily a series of observations and thought experiments.

I've recently enjoyed a lecture series on string theory [0] and it seems to me that string theory is primarily a series of observations and thought experiments. The original context of string theory was in the understanding that, if we are exploring quantum mechanical ideas about waves and particles, then mathematical ideas about strings and waves can be used to simplify some of the computations. String theory does not need to be connected to the heart of group theory [1], although it might be. It doesn't need to be connected to 26 dimensions [2] or 10 dimensions [3][4], but we know that [1][2][3][4] are deeply connected already, and so if it relates to any of them, it must relate to all of them. We should be careful about the degree to which we get "lost in math", I suppose, but only in that we need to avoid wrong-way reductions [5]. We should be careful to not let string theory lead us to generalizations that are beyond experiment. As the article says, we have falsified some of the low-energy predictions of some string theories [6], and we should continue designing experiments that can challenge theoretical predictions. [0] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA2FDCCBC7956448F https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA2FDCCBC7956448F [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_moonshine#Conjectured_relationship_with_quantum_gravity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_moonshine#Conjecture... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leech_lattice#Applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leech_lattice#Applications [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_lattice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_lattice [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_(mathematics)#Applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_(mathematics)#Applications [5] https://meaningness.com/wrong-way-reduction https://meaningness.com/wrong-way-reduction [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry#Current_status https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry#Current_status