An Alternative to String Theory?

That was an interesting article, and I'm like you -- I don't know if I understand all that was said, even though it was written in plain language.

I think the main thing I got out of it was that physicists and mathematicians have been trying like hell to come up with a unified theory ("theory of everything") for a long time, and it has always seemed to me that things like gravitons, an un-proved "particle" must exist because the mathematical model of what they are searching for says it must. Sting theory depends on it.

Well, I wonder how many wrong roads have been taken mathematically to create a theory of everything?

I like the approach that Alain Connes is taking to prove the existance of the Higgs particle. I never did like scientists' practice of making up particles they can't prove exist.

I don't like an "untestable theory" no matter how elegant the mathematics is. I wish I understood the math well enough to have an informed decision. I'm working on learning it, but it's a slow process and I have to crawl (differential equations and Linear Algebra) before I can walk (Group Theory and Topology).

I "helped" a friend of mine with quantum mechanics years ago by listening to him try to explain it to me and then asking, "Does that make any sense?" Some of it did, and some of it didn't.

As for the differential equations and linear algebra, I went through that also several years ago. I even took linear algebra to improve my GPR, but instead, I hurt it. I had had all the required engineering math courses and knew "engineering math" quite well, having solved numerous sets of simultaneous differential and partial-differential eigenvector equations and the like, so I thought to myself, "Why not take a course in Linear Algebra in the Math Department?"

I had forgotten that math professors liked their students to "prove" theorems, which engineering professors didn't really give a hoot about. Needless to say, the first quiz I took earned me a 25% grade. I went to see the prof after class who asked, "You've never had me for a class before, have you?" I hadn't. He then said, "I guess you came to tell me that you're planning on dropping the course." I said, "Yes." He then said, "If you do well on subsequent quizzes, I'll drop this grade." I took him at his word and stayed with the course and made "B's." Apparently, he forgot what he told me at the beginning of the semester, 'cause he averaged the 25 in with the other grades and gave me a "D." I learned two lessons that semester . . .