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Talk of a misleading title. This is not even the journalistic principle, which says if a question is posed in the headline, the answer is "no". The title questi

by chengiz 12y ago

Talk of a misleading title. This is not even the journalistic principle, which says if a question is posed in the headline, the answer is "no". The title question is "not even discussed" in the article. Which is ironic, considering the "Not Even Wrong" criticism of string theory and multiverses.

VLM 12y ago
Its doubly bad in that its a historical survey containing no new results. I assumed based on the headline it was an editor trying to be "hilarious" when reporting a new paper claiming internal inconsistencies destroying the theory. The obvious analogy of fabric unraveling when strings break loose and all that. If, someday, string theory does "unravel" due to internal inconsistencies (IF!) then this would be a legendary headline for the paper, or for journalistic coverage of the paper.
laex 12y ago
Brain Greene - the author said this about the article: "Hi Everyone, To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the key paper that launched string theory into the mainstream of physics, I've written personal retrospective, just published in Smithsonian Magazine, on this remarkable but challenging approach to unification. --BG PS: I didn't choose the title of the article, and don't consider it representative of the piece." See https://www.facebook.com/BrianGreenePhysicist https://www.facebook.com/BrianGreenePhysicist
justifier 12y ago
i wanted to agree with you, and apparently the author, but reading the article left me thinking the title is pretty poetic the title reminds me of a title of a poem by the russian poet osip mandelstam: sumerki svobody, may 1918(i); the word sumerki is vague in its definition and so can be understood and, as many have found intriguing and frustrating, translated as either sunset or sunrise, dawn or twilight, and the poem's terseness allows the reader to project their own preconceptions into the word, attempting to solidify its fluid nature to either find in the poem support or something to be angry about this word 'unravels' has a similar fluid character, here's the goog run on it(ii) : verb 1. undo (twisted, knitted, or woven threads). 2. investigate and solve or explain (something complicated or puzzling) undo or explain even the author of the piece seems to feel the titles fluidity: Should decades drift by without experimental support, I imagine that string theory will be absorbed by other areas of science and mathematics, and slowly shed a unique identity. In the interim, vigorous research and a large dose of patience are surely warranted. is this the twilight or the dawn of string theory? is it unraveling or unraveling? and the author agrees: who knows?; as others have noted this piece is more of a 'this is where we are and where we came from and where we're headed' so i think how you read the word unravel is largely based on your interest in the subject matter (i) https://books.google.com/books?id=4O6F8BMhW6oC&pg=PA34&dq=%E2%80%9CSumerki+svobody,%E2%80%9D+May+1918&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v_KWVPzNNNO7ogTAp4DoCQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CSumerki%20svobody%2C%E2%80%9D%20May%201918&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=4O6F8BMhW6oC&pg=PA34&dq=%E... (ii) https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#safe=off&q=unravel%20definition https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...

by chengiz 12y ago

VLM 12y ago

Its doubly bad in that its a historical survey containing no new results. I assumed based on the headline it was an editor trying to be "hilarious" when reporting a new paper claiming internal inconsistencies destroying the theory. The obvious analogy of fabric unraveling when strings break loose and all that. If, someday, string theory does "unravel" due to internal inconsistencies (IF!) then this would be a legendary headline for the paper, or for journalistic coverage of the paper.

laex 12y ago

Brain Greene - the author said this about the article: "Hi Everyone, To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the key paper that launched string theory into the mainstream of physics, I've written personal retrospective, just published in Smithsonian Magazine, on this remarkable but challenging approach to unification. --BG PS: I didn't choose the title of the article, and don't consider it representative of the piece." See https://www.facebook.com/BrianGreenePhysicist https://www.facebook.com/BrianGreenePhysicist

justifier 12y ago

i wanted to agree with you, and apparently the author, but reading the article left me thinking the title is pretty poetic the title reminds me of a title of a poem by the russian poet osip mandelstam: sumerki svobody, may 1918(i); the word sumerki is vague in its definition and so can be understood and, as many have found intriguing and frustrating, translated as either sunset or sunrise, dawn or twilight, and the poem's terseness allows the reader to project their own preconceptions into the word, attempting to solidify its fluid nature to either find in the poem support or something to be angry about this word 'unravels' has a similar fluid character, here's the goog run on it(ii) : verb 1. undo (twisted, knitted, or woven threads). 2. investigate and solve or explain (something complicated or puzzling) undo or explain even the author of the piece seems to feel the titles fluidity: Should decades drift by without experimental support, I imagine that string theory will be absorbed by other areas of science and mathematics, and slowly shed a unique identity. In the interim, vigorous research and a large dose of patience are surely warranted. is this the twilight or the dawn of string theory? is it unraveling or unraveling? and the author agrees: who knows?; as others have noted this piece is more of a 'this is where we are and where we came from and where we're headed' so i think how you read the word unravel is largely based on your interest in the subject matter (i) https://books.google.com/books?id=4O6F8BMhW6oC&pg=PA34&dq=%E2%80%9CSumerki+svobody,%E2%80%9D+May+1918&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v_KWVPzNNNO7ogTAp4DoCQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CSumerki%20svobody%2C%E2%80%9D%20May%201918&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=4O6F8BMhW6oC&pg=PA34&dq=%E... (ii) https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#safe=off&q=unravel%20definition https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...