I can assure you that no string theorist would be interested in working on string theory if it were somehow permanently beyond testability. That would no longer be doing science. Brian Greene More Quotes by Brian Greene More Quotes From Brian Greene I like to think that Einstein would look at string theory’s journey and smile, enjoying the theory’s remarkable geometrical features while feeling kinship with fellow travelers on the long and winding road toward unification. Brian Greene journey long thinking My best teachers were not the ones who knew all the answers, but those who were deeply excited by questions they couldn't answer. Brian Greene best-teacher answers teacher Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding. Brian Greene confusion understanding process Free will is the sensation of making a choice. The sensation is real, but the choice seems illusory. Laws of physics determine the future. Brian Greene choices real law When kids look up to great scientists the way they do to great musicians and actors, civilization will jump to the next level Brian Greene musician civilization kids No matter how hard you try to teach your cat general relativity, you're going to fail. Brian Greene cat matter trying Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty. Brian Greene exploring uncertainty We're on this planet for the briefest of moments in cosmic terms, and I want to spend that time thinking about what I consider the deepest questions. Brian Greene moments want thinking All you are is a bag of particles acting out the laws of physics. That to me is pretty clear. Brian Greene bags acting law Intelligence is the ability to take in information from the world and to find patterns in that information that allow you to organize your perceptions and understand the external world. Brian Greene patterns perception world I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly - or ever - gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe. Brian Greene stars dark night Physics grapples with the largest questions the universe presents. Where did the totality of reality come from? Did time have a beginning? Brian Greene totality physics reality The universe is incredibly wondrous, incredibly beautiful, and it fills me with a sense that there is some underlying explanation that we have yet to fully understand. If someone wants to place the word 'God' on those collections of words, it's OK with me. Brian Greene explanation want beautiful The beauty of string theory is the metaphor kind of really comes very close to the reality. The strings of string theory are vibrating the particles, vibrating the forces of nature into existence, those vibrations are sort of like musical notes. So string theory, if it's correct, would be playing out the score of the universe. Brian Greene musical would-be reality Sometimes nature guards her secrets with the unbreakable grip of physical law. Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon. Brian Greene motivation nature inspiration In the far, far future, essentially all matter will have returned to energy. But because of the enormous expansion of space, this energy will be spread so thinly that it will hardly ever convert back to even the lightest particles of matter. Instead, a faint mist of light will fall for eternity through an ever colder and quieter cosmos. Brian Greene space light fall Every moment is as real as every other. Every 'now,' when you say, 'This is the real moment,' is as real as every other 'now' - and therefore all the moments are just out there. Just as every location in space is out there, I think every moment in time is out there, too. Brian Greene space real thinking Science is the greatest of all adventure stories, one that's been unfolding for thousands of years as we have sought to understand ourselves and our surroundings. Brian Greene stories adventure years Sometimes attaining the deepest familiarity with a question is our best substitute for actually having the answer. Brian Greene answers sometimes science That is, you can have nothingness, absolute nothingness for maybe a tiny fraction of a second, if a second can be defined in that arena, but then it falls apart into a something and an anti-something. And that something is then what we call the universe. But can we really understand that or put rigorous mathematics or testable experiments against that? Not yet. So one of the big holy grail of physics is to understand why there is something rather than nothing. Brian Greene holy-grail tiny fall
