Some Things about Strings Pt II

[RascalPuff]

A Critique of Brian Greene's Elegant Universe, by Miles Mathis,
continued - Pt II

The next absurdity is one of Feynman's famous absurdities.2 This one concerns letting an electron going through the two-slit experiment take all possible (infinite in number) paths simultaneously and then summing over these paths to find the wave function. Any idiot can see that this is just a mathematical consideration and has no physical implications, but Feynman was a special kind of idiot. He insisted for some reason that the math was the physics, and all the special idiots since then have taken his word for it. They love to quote or paraphrase him, as Greene does, "You must allow nature to dictate what is and what is not sensible." Which means, "You must allow me (Feynman) to dictate what is and what is not sensible. I am smarter than you are and if you don't allow me to dictate to you, I will browbeat you mercilessly." Even now that Feynman is long in the grave and incapable of personally browbeating anyone, the special idiots still quote and paraphrase and bow to his authority. Feynman himself was bowing to the authority of Heisenberg and Bohr, who first decided, by fiat, that the math of quantum mechanics was the physics. Or perhaps he was only learning from their example. Counterintuitive fiats had made them famous with all the toadies, why not make a few of his own counterintuitive fiats and toadies?

Greene tells us outright: "Quantum mechanics requires that you hold such pedestrian complaints [about things making sense] in abeyance." What could be more convenient for a scientist? He is now in the position of a priest. The priests have always said the same thing to non-believers. "You must not expect it to make sense. You must have faith. Trust the Lord." Trust Feynman. He is smarter than you and understands what you should believe. He has filled the blackboards with Hamiltonians and has cracked safes. He has earned the right to say ridiculous things, like the Dalai Lama or the Buddha or the President.

This is the most important thing that string theorists have learned from quantum mechanics: you do not have to make sense anymore. Any contradiction can be relabeled a paradox, any infinity can be relabeled an axiom, any absurdity can be given to Nature herself, who is an absurd creature, in love with illogic and caprice.

I could go on indefinitely, listing other absurdities like the Twin Paradox and the singularity and so on, but I have analyzed these problems elsewhere in great detail; and besides, you already either accept them or don't accept them, so that my comments are nearly beside the point. You won't judge the concepts based on anything I could say of them, you will only judge me for what I say of them. Therefore, let me proceed to critique string theory, a theory that is not yet set in stone, even for the toadiest.

String theory begins by defining a string. In most instances a string is a one-dimensional loop, we are told. String theory is famous for its ever-increasing number of required dimensions, so that you would think that the theorists would have a pretty tight idea of what a dimension is. But if you think this you would be wrong. String theory is about math, not about concepts, and these brilliant mathematicians don't have a very clear idea what a dimension is or what a one-dimensional "thing" would be. In math, a one-dimensional thing is a line. It always has been, since the time of Euclid, and that has not changed recently. A zero-dimensional thing is a point, a two dimensional thing is a plane, and a three-dimensional thing is a cube or sphere or whatnot. But all of these things are mathematical abstractions. They don't exist and can't exist. Of all these mathematical things, only the three-dimensional things have a potential existence, and then only if you add time. There is a very simple reason for this that has nothing to do with gods or turning on the universe or anything else esoteric or metaphysical. Points, lines and planes cannot exist because they do not have any physical extension. A plane disappears in the z direction, a line disappears in the x and y direction, and a point disappears in all three directions. In mathematical terms, it means that the variable or field has hit a limit—a zero or infinity—at this point in the equations, making existence impossible.

Physicists used to understand simple concepts like this, but no more. Even mathematicians don't appear to understand them. These concepts just get in the way until some self-described genius somewhere finds a clever way around them, and we aren't bothered with them anymore. After that we are allowed to propose the existence of mathematical objects and no one blinks an eye. But it remains a (perhaps unpleasant) fact that a line cannot exist. Even in pure math, a "one-dimensional loop" cannot exist. A one-dimensional loop is false even as a mathematical abstraction. Why? Because a loop curves. Any curve is no longer one-dimensional. A curve is two-dimensional, by definition.

Greene and his heroes imagine that because you can, in a pinch, express a position on a curve with one variable, that it is a one-dimensional object. But it isn't. Greene proves this when he begins talking about his garden-hose world, where the position of a bug on the hose can be expressed with two variables. He then admits in an endnote that if the garden hose has an interior, we must have more dimensions. But when, in a physical situation, is it possible to imagine a garden hose, no matter how tiny, with no interior? It is not possible and his "two-dimensional" garden hose, if physical, must have three dimensions.

Greene makes the current confusion even more apparent when he begins increasing the Type IIA coupling constant.3 This allows strings to expand into two and three-dimensional objects. He says that the two-dimensional string is like a bicycle tire and the three-dimensional object is like a donut. So Greene thinks there is a dimensional difference between a bicycle tire and a donut! If a bicycle tire is not solid rubber through and through, then the third dimension has disappeared? We should at least have to suck the space out of it with some kind of space vacuum, right?

String theory is such a godawful mess right from the first concept that it is painful to go on. But I will. Once we have our impossible one-dimensional loops, we are to imagine that they are vibrating. To vibrate in the right way for the theory, they must be strung very, very, very tight. Now, a sensible person would already have several foundational questions. First of all, why are they vibrating? Second, why are some vibrating one way and some vibrating another way? Third, what causes the tension?

The first concept, basic vibration, we can give them. Vibration is far from being a basic motion, but there has to be some first cause, and so we will allow one unexplainable motion as first cause. But the difference in different vibrations cannot be uncaused. We cannot allow it to be a postulate. Different vibrations should have different mechanical causes. If one string is vibrating in a different way from another, there must be a reason. String theorists have already told us that strings are not made up of subparticles; they are absolutely indivisible. They should therefore be undifferentiated. Ultimate strings that are indivisible should act the same in the same circumstances. If they act differently, then the circumstances must differ. But we are not told what these different circumstances are. The vast variation in behavior is just another postulate.

Besides, even if we admitted the impossible—that a one-dimensional loop could exist—once you give it a vibration it automatically gains a dimension. All you have to do is look at the direction it is postulated to vibrate in. Does it vibrate lengthwise? Of course not. How could it? It is undifferentiated lengthwise, meaning that it is not made up of subparticles. There is no way a pulse could travel lengthwise in a string that was not divisible. So the theorists propose sideways vibrations, of different sizes and wavelengths. In technical terms, we are talking about transverse waves, not longitudinal waves. A transverse wave will automatically push the string into a second dimension. So all talk of one-dimensional strings is a wash from the beginning, for two fundamental reasons, not one.

( To be continued in Pt III )

[austintorn@aol.com]

Greene stringing us along.