General relativity predicts that time ends inside black holes because the gravitational collapse squeezes matter to infinite density. — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Because string theory is such a high-risk venture—unsupported by experiment, though very generously supported by the academic” — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
If string theory is a mistake, it's not a trivial mistake. It's a deep mistake and therefore kind of worthy. — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Quantum mechanics has to be expanded, to allow for many different descriptions, depending on who the observer is.” — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“So the challenge for any quantum theory of gravity is to give us a deeper understanding of Bekenstein's entropy and Hawking's temperature.” — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Because string theory is such a high-risk venture—unsupported by experiment,” — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
There certainly is a tension between the relativity of simultaneity and non-locality in quantum theory, but it's not strong enough to add… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Problem 1: Combine general relativity and quantum theory into a single theory that can claim to be the complete theory of nature.… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“What we have, in fact, is not a theory at all but a large collection of approximate calculations, together with a web… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Basically, string theory is the development of this visionary idea in a context of a fixed background of space and time. Loop… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“It is interesting to note that the quantum-mechanical revolution was made by a virtually orphaned generation of scientists. Many members of the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
The revolution which began with the creation of quantum theory and relativity theory can only be finished with their unification into a… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
Just like an ordinary guitar string, a fundamental string can vibrate in different modes. And it is these different modes of vibration… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
Every string theory that's been written down says the speed of light is universal. But other ideas about quantum gravity predict the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Albert Einstein was certainly the most important physicist of the twentieth century. Perhaps his greatest work was his discovery of general relativity,… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“By the time I began my study of physics in the early 1970s, the idea of unifying gravity with the other forces… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Galileo discovered new stars and moons, and later astronomers discovered new planets. All this would pale in the face of the discovery… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
A successful unification of quantum theory and relativity would necessarily be a theory of the universe as a whole. It would tell… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Besides the argument based on the unity of nature, there are problems specific to each theory that call for unification with the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“So, in the end, the most improbable and hence the most puzzling aspect of space is its very existence. The simple fact… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“The entropy of the hot radiation she observes as a result of her acceleration turns out to be exactly proportional to the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Both loop quantum gravity and string theory assert that there is an atomic structure to space. In the next two chapters we… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“One can take the colour-electric field as the fundamental entity, and then try to understand the picture of a string stretched between… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Things have becone even more mysterious. We have recently discovered that when we make observations at still larger scales, corresponding to billions… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Unfortunately, no one has ever successfully postulated a super-symmetry holding between two known particles. Instead, in all the supersymmetric theories the numbers… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Branes also opened up a whole new way of thinking about how our three-dimensional world might relate to the extra spatial dimensions… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Quantum theory, in turn, has its own trouble with infinities. They appear whenever you attempt to use quantum mechanics to describe fields,… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Extending Polyakov's argument, he found evidence that the string theory describing those emergent strings is actually a ten-dimensional supersymmetric string theory. Of… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“This unification of forces and motion has a simple consequence. In a particle theory, you can freely add all kinds of forces,… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“General relativity has a problem with infinities because inside a black hole the density of matter and the strength of the gravitational… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Here's a simplified version of what the Stanford group did. They started with a much-studied kind of string theory-a flat four-dimensional spacetime… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
Some string theorists prefer to believe that string theory is too arcane to be understood by human beings, rather than consider the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Expressed in Planck units, the temperature T of a black hole is inversely proportional to its mass, m. This is a third… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Quantum theory can be described as a new kind of language to be used in a dialogue between us and the systems… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“Einstein recalled realizing that a person falling from the roof of a building would feel no effects of gravity as he fell.… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“So we may now pose a question which could be answered only if we have a quantum theory of gravity. What is… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“In fact, the particle-antiparticle annihilation and the closing of the string is necessary, if the theory is to be consistent with relativity,… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“The search for the meaning of temperature and entropy of matter led to the discovery of atoms. The search for the meaning… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“The key question for a quantum theory of gravity is then the following: Can we extend to quantum theory the principle that… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“For simple black holes, which do not rotate and have no electric charge, the values of the temperature and entropy can be… — Lee Smolin Copy Share Image
“This unification of forces and motion has a simple consequence. In a particle theory, you can freely add all kinds of forces, so there… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“One field Faraday studied was the electric field. This is not a number but a vector, which we may visualize as an arrow and… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“It is interesting to note that the quantum-mechanical revolution was made by a virtually orphaned generation of scientists. Many members of the generation above… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“In fact, the particle-antiparticle annihilation and the closing of the string is necessary, if the theory is to be consistent with relativity, meaning the… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
Every string theory that's been written down says the speed of light is universal. But other ideas about quantum gravity predict the speed of… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“Unfortunately, no one has ever successfully postulated a super-symmetry holding between two known particles. Instead, in all the supersymmetric theories the numbers of particles… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
Those who do good science do so because they choose problems that are suited to them. — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“Here's a simplified version of what the Stanford group did. They started with a much-studied kind of string theory-a flat four-dimensional spacetime with a… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“The current crisis in particle physics springs from the fact that the theories have gone beyond the standard model in the last thirty years… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“By the time I began my study of physics in the early 1970s, the idea of unifying gravity with the other forces was as… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“These two discoveries, of relativity and of the quantum, each required us to break definitively with Newtonian physics. However, in spite of great progress… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“So the challenge for any quantum theory of gravity is to give us a deeper understanding of Bekenstein's entropy and Hawking's temperature.” — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“Problem 1: Combine general relativity and quantum theory into a single theory that can claim to be the complete theory of nature. This is… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“The loop approach to quantum gravity is now a thriving field of research. Many of the older ideas, such as supergravity and the study… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
“During the life of a black hole, it will pull in huge amounts of matter, carrying huge amounts of intrinsic information. At the end,… — Lee Smolin Copy Share
