There's a fundamental difference between physics and CS in that there aren't as many sci-fi aspects to CS theory. Think about what is popular in physics: time t

There's a fundamental difference between physics and CS in that there aren't as many sci-fi aspects to CS theory. Think about what is popular in physics: time travel, parallel universes, teleportation, beginning/end of the universe/time, aliens. What are the sci-fi things in CS? Really fast factoring and fast routing for a vacuum cleaner sales guy. The one potential element is AI. But CS has largely abandoned what the public views as AI. And even when there's a public show of AI, think Watson, many in CS come and say, "that's not really AI". IMO, AI is where the public can catch on to CS. But AI isn't what's generally referred to as theoretical CS -- you won't see AI papers at FOCS/STOC.