Is a career in String theory Impossible

[Philosopher_k]

I have come to the conclusion that my ideal area of scientific persuit is the area of theoretical physics in specific string theory. Recently i have been researching on which field of theoretical physics i have the most interest in. My area of interests are most simply put the most fundamental questions of nature. How did the universe form? What is time? Why do higher dimensions work in the mathematics? and so on. The area of science which best deals with this area is string theory and ergo i wish to become a string theorist.

Once i wanted to be a pure mathematician, but now i find pure mathematics to be some what dry. I find beauty in the equations of nature, not in those abstract ones of the human mind (i don't mean to offend anyone this is just my opinion, i still believe pure mathematics can be beautiful but truth must always come before beauty).

Am i overreaching myself? Is string theory only for the cream of the cream of the top? Should i just pack in my bags and give in on these goals and find a career as some investment banker happy to live my life in ignorance?

Anything less than working on string theory just doesn't seem to appeal to me. I want to be like Brian greene or Edward Witten or Leonard Susskind. These guys are my heros. I want to learn from them and their colleagues, i want to master the mind of god.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

I'm surprised you didn't make a pseudonym account because many people won't be willing to answer your questions.

 

[hitmeoff]

I have come to the conclusion that my ideal area of scientific persuit is the area of theoretical physics in specific string theory. Recently i have been researching on which field of theoretical physics i have the most interest in. My area of interests are most simply put the most fundamental questions of nature. How did the universe form? What is time? Why do higher dimensions work in the mathematics? and so on. The area of science which best deals with this area is string theory and ergo i wish to become a string theorist.

Once i wanted to be a pure mathematician, but now i find pure mathematics to be some what dry. I find beauty in the equations of nature, not in those abstract ones of the human mind (i don't mean to offend anyone this is just my opinion, i still believe pure mathematics can be beautiful but truth must always come before beauty).

Am i overreaching myself? Is string theory only for the cream of the cream of the top? Should i just pack in my bags and give in on these goals and find a career as some investment banker happy to live my life in ignorance?

Anything less than working on string theory just doesn't seem to appeal to me. I want to be like Brian greene or Edward Witten or Leonard Susskind. These guys are my heros. I want to learn from them and their colleagues, i want to master the mind of god.

You do understand that to work as a theorist in string theory, you will definitely have to go through a lot of abstract algebra. check out this website:

http://superstringtheory.com/math/math2.html

You see that list? Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Group THeory, Diff Geometry, Lie Groups and Algebras? Thats all abstract math. Check out any book you can find on Group Theoryy specifically applied to Physics problems and you will quickly see that those books definitely take a "Definition/Theorem/Axiom/Prove it/Show that" approach.

Not that I don't think you can't do it, rathey if you want to avoid abstract math string theory aint the field to go into. I

I didn't believe it before...when I first began my major courses, I just didnt get it. I didnt get why any of this algebra and analysis crap was useful let alone interesting, and honestly I dropped those classes and spent my time trying my hand at some more directly applicable math courses like Math Modeling. They were ok, but after taking a very very pure math class in Number Theory, I started to get the bug for abstract math again. I guess I just need a little kick in the *** and some damn good professors for me to beign to see the beauty in math. Yes pure math can be beautiful, but when this high level abstract math is applied to real physical problems, I think the beauty truly does shine through. Truth is beauty.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

He isn't trying to avoid it, he is willing to study it, if it applies to nature, he isn't if it relates to abstract concepts that don't define the universe.

 

[hitmeoff]

He isn't trying to avoid it, he is willing to study it, if it applies to nature, he isn't if it relates to abstract concepts that don't define the universe.

Just sayin, based on his last thread, I still think he has a romaticized idea of what its like to study theoretical physics. I don't think he realizes how down and dirty you got to get when studying the math of string theory.

 

[nlsherrill]

I have come to the conclusion that my ideal area of scientific persuit is the area of theoretical physics in specific string theory. Recently i have been researching on which field of theoretical physics i have the most interest in. My area of interests are most simply put the most fundamental questions of nature. How did the universe form? What is time? Why do higher dimensions work in the mathematics? and so on. The area of science which best deals with this area is string theory and ergo i wish to become a string theorist.

Once i wanted to be a pure mathematician, but now i find pure mathematics to be some what dry. I find beauty in the equations of nature, not in those abstract ones of the human mind (i don't mean to offend anyone this is just my opinion, i still believe pure mathematics can be beautiful but truth must always come before beauty).

Am i overreaching myself? Is string theory only for the cream of the cream of the top? Should i just pack in my bags and give in on these goals and find a career as some investment banker happy to live my life in ignorance?

Anything less than working on string theory just doesn't seem to appeal to me. I want to be like Brian greene or Edward Witten or Leonard Susskind. These guys are my heros. I want to learn from them and their colleagues, i want to master the mind of god.

You don't seem content with ignorance, so I doubt you would be happy living your life in it.

Anything less than string theory? You know the people you listed work on other things too right? I would say QFT is up there with string theory, just a little more focused on physics than mathematics.

How about you try this: Double major in physics and mathematics. Even this won't expose you to the amount of math you are going to have to know for theoretical physics, so if you are fed up with the pure math by then, then theoretical physics isn't right for you. If you don't have a knack for this stuff, then you probably aren't going to make an impact in the field.

Lastly, I highly doubt you would be content with your life also if you are solely seeking to "master the mind of god." Instead of a life of fulfillment, I imagine a life of struggle, stress, and discontent.

 

[hadsed]

This is so obviously a troll.

 

[Shackleford]

This is so obviously a troll.

http://c2.api.ning.com/files/YWMj-J29SNzWJ7CiB*IFfeumrVrAm9GZ7SsUB*YLMvi5*WGqQvztbyArnKQFbkfh6afkYz1cAYCX9TNOVQHJ8tXnFDTdkSlq/orly43441.jpg

Dammit. It wouldn't let me post a picture.

 

[Philosopher_k]

Firstly i am not a troll.

Hadsed, you seem quite irritated by me. To some extent, i can't blame you, but let me ask, are you stuck in some dead boring job, with a half finished bachelors degree, because you are one of the most bitter people on this forum. I don't expect compassion from people on the internet, but if you are anywhere near as incompassionate in real life then i would call you autistic.

I did not mean to say just string theory, i thought i implied QFT and Particle physics, but it looks like that wasnt so apparent in my last post.

I am not trying to run away from mathematics. I love mathematics, its just i would rather apply it to find the secrets of the universe. Maybe i am romanticizing things too much, but i don't care. I would rather live in an ideal world than the real one. Isnt that what mathematics is all about? Living in a platonic realm?

Maybe i am overreaching myself...but i would rather die trying to be a string theorist then live life working as an engineer.

 

[lubuntu]

I have come to the conclusion that my ideal area of scientific persuit is the area of theoretical physics in specific string theory. Recently i have been researching on which field of theoretical physics i have the most interest in. My area of interests are most simply put the most fundamental questions of nature. How did the universe form? What is time? Why do higher dimensions work in the mathematics? and so on. The area of science which best deals with this area is string theory and ergo i wish to become a string theorist.

Once i wanted to be a pure mathematician, but now i find pure mathematics to be some what dry. I find beauty in the equations of nature, not in those abstract ones of the human mind (i don't mean to offend anyone this is just my opinion, i still believe pure mathematics can be beautiful but truth must always come before beauty).

Am i overreaching myself? Is string theory only for the cream of the cream of the top? Should i just pack in my bags and give in on these goals and find a career as some investment banker happy to live my life in ignorance?

Anything less than working on string theory just doesn't seem to appeal to me. I want to be like Brian greene or Edward Witten or Leonard Susskind. These guys are my heros. I want to learn from them and their colleagues, i want to master the mind of god.

I think I understand where you are coming from. To be honest a career in string theory is going to really tough because A) it is a really really small field and produces to actual results B)in some sense the only people who work on string theory are those so smart that their universities just let them do whatever the hell they want C) String theory isn't really very good science...at least yet.

We all get enthralled with these cutting edge wonder-lust concepts. When I was a teen I wanted to figure out the physics of faster than light travel. I wanted to work on General Relativity and learn about theoretical particles like tachyons; research wormholes and warp bubbles. Pretty much all this stuff is in the same ball park as string theory as far as have anything to do with experiment and the actual physical world.

As I began to learn more about what physics actually is my interests have now mature. I'd say it is probably highly unlikely that by the time you get through a BS in physics you would still be so set on String theory. There are many great and interesting areas of physics that you can learn about and contribute to that aren't necessarily going to be covered on the next History channel documentary, Michio Kaku or Brian Greene book.

I am glad these sci-fi concepts got me interested in physics but I've to realize how kind of trite that popular science is compared to the real stuff. But you probably don't need someone to tell you this, I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own soon enough...

 

[lubuntu]

Firstly i am not a troll.

Hadsed, you seem quite irritated by me. To some extent, i can't blame you, but let me ask, are you stuck in some dead boring job, with a half finished bachelors degree, because you are one of the most bitter people on this forum. I don't expect compassion from people on the internet, but if you are anywhere near as incompassionate in real life then i would call you autistic.

I did not mean to say just string theory, i thought i implied QFT and Particle physics, but it looks like that wasnt so apparent in my last post.

I am not trying to run away from mathematics. I love mathematics, its just i would rather apply it to find the secrets of the universe. Maybe i am romanticizing things too much, but i don't care. I would rather live in an ideal world than the real one. Isnt that what mathematics is all about? Living in a platonic realm?

Maybe i am overreaching myself...but i would rather die trying to be a string theorist then live life working as an engineer.

Also, string theory is much closer to pure math than applied math, because string theory make no empirical predictions. QFT and Particle Physics are real science string theory is something else.

Check this book out https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618551050/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Pengwuino]

Go do string theory then. You're going to find out that "pure math" isn't what you thought it was and the idea of avoiding it is silly. 6 years from now. When you actually know enough to know what you're doing.

Stop posting garbage and just go learn things.

Seriously.

 

[DrummingAtom]

Firstly i am not a troll.

Hadsed, you seem quite irritated by me. To some extent, i can't blame you, but let me ask, are you stuck in some dead boring job, with a half finished bachelors degree, because you are one of the most bitter people on this forum. I don't expect compassion from people on the internet, but if you are anywhere near as incompassionate in real life then i would call you autistic.

I did not mean to say just string theory, i thought i implied QFT and Particle physics, but it looks like that wasnt so apparent in my last post.

I am not trying to run away from mathematics. I love mathematics, its just i would rather apply it to find the secrets of the universe. Maybe i am romanticizing things too much, but i don't care. I would rather live in an ideal world than the real one. Isnt that what mathematics is all about? Living in a platonic realm?

Maybe i am overreaching myself...but i would rather die trying to be a string theorist then live life working as an engineer.

So, why are you asking us about if it's a good idea? You're obviously insecure about your "dreams" or you wouldn't be asking so many questions.

Do you think the great Physicists in history went around and asking random people if they should pursue Science?

I would highly recommend "Great Physicists," you'll find plenty of stories about each person that shows that they're obsessed with their goals. My favorite is of Lord Kelvin having gatherings on his yacht and disappearing for hours at a time to "do some calculations."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195173244/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Show us, don't tell or ask us.

 

[General_Sax]

Am i overreaching myself? Is string theory only for the cream of the cream of the top? Should i just pack in my bags and give in on these goals and find a career as some investment banker happy to live my life in ignorance?

With your personality there is no way you'll ever become a investment banker.

Shoot for a career with a more autistic-centric employee base.

 

[Philosopher_k]

So i am autistic now? your powers of logic know no bounds. I have dreams, and i am willing to pursue them. Does that make me autistic?

AND I HAVE ALLREADY STATED, PENG, THAT I AM NOT RUNNING FROM MATHEMATICS. If string theory is pure mathematics, then i guess i will pursue pure mathematics.

Thanks labuntu, i have the same interests as you did, may i ask what you ended up doing?

Drumming atom, maybe i will show you a thing or two. I will give you a call when i win my nobel.

Jokes aside, I would pursue mathematics alone, as in not even go into physics, but pure mathematics just seems to lack imagination. It is full of proof, lemma, theorem, lemma, remark styled working. The esoteric subjects that i wanted to learn such as hilbert and metric spaces were not as abstract and "beautiful" as they were made out to be. Mathematics almost seems like APPLIED LOGIC and that's about all. I guess hardy was wrong...

 

[General_Sax]

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

So i am autistic now?

I'd hazard a yes to that question

your powers of logic know no bounds.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

 

[Philosopher_k]

if you were a true scientist, you would have to hazard more than a guess on a claim.

 

[lubuntu]

So i am autistic now? your powers of logic know no bounds. I have dreams, and i am willing to pursue them. Does that make me autistic?

AND I HAVE ALLREADY STATED, PENG, THAT I AM NOT RUNNING FROM MATHEMATICS. If string theory is pure mathematics, then i guess i will pursue pure mathematics.

Thanks labuntu, i have the same interests as you did, may i ask what you ended up doing?

Drumming atom, maybe i will show you a thing or two. I will give you a call when i win my nobel.

Jokes aside, I would pursue mathematics alone, as in not even go into physics, but pure mathematics just seems to lack imagination. It is full of proof, lemma, theorem, lemma, remark styled working. The esoteric subjects that i wanted to learn such as hilbert and metric spaces were not as abstract and "beautiful" as they were made out to be. Mathematics almost seems like APPLIED LOGIC and that's about all. I guess hardy was wrong...

I'm doing a physics degree,but I don't really have that strong drive towards pure math that you do. I love math but I only really in the scope of its ability as tool to describe physics.

Why do you say you want to pursue math even though you seem to hate everything about? How are you so sure you know what the higher level math is like? Math is in some sense built entirely out of basic geometry and logic but that doesn't begin to describe what it is. Listen the best thing for you do is to realize how naive you are and try to correct it. Figure out what you want to do based on actually doing some of it and not just getting ideas in your head of what it is.

 

[Philosopher_k]

I enjoy going into mathematics competitions and i do reasonably well in them. Even making it to my national olympiad (i know i couldn't get any further) :(

I enjoy studying proofs and thinking of abstract ideas. Mathematics is the science of abstract ideas. ERGO i want to study it.

The thing is the ideas i came across such as riemann manifolds and higher dimensions were not as ABSTRACT as i thought they would be. I imagined these higher dimensional objects which we could only describe through mathematics. Instead they are not quite that, something less, more material. This disapointed me. So i thought maybe if i wanted to study the things which i had a dream of studying i should turn to the likes of string theory.

 

[hadsed]

if you were a true scientist, you would have to hazard more than a guess on a claim.

What exactly makes you think you can judge someone on how real of a scientist he is?

For the record, what you said about me earlier is untrue. Yes I'm highly irritated by you, and it's pretty clear that I'm not the only one. No, I'm not autistic either, but nice try with the psychoanalysis.

I think it's unbelievable that you lack the capacity to understand how you're coming off on this forum to these people, some of which are successful professionals in physics and mathematics. Even students who know more than you can help, and they are helping (well, trying to anyway) but you won't open your eyes. By your reactions to peoples' criticisms, you won't be able to handle ..well, I was going to say academia, but I might say industry too and maybe even graduate school. And then someone asks you a technical question about something that you claim to know and you scoff at them? It's simple, answer the damn question! Then someone says well the chances of being the next Witten is low, you take that as someone saying something about your intelligence (which, if you didn't know, doesn't actually get higher if you perceive it to be so) and you go 'oh poor me, just a kid with dreams'.

What's the point of asking our opinions when you don't care for them, make a sad face when you feel insulted, and then go on to ask the same sort of questions again? Listen to people who are smarter than you or go away.

 

[Philosopher_k]

I highly doubt you are one of these "smarter" people.

From your logical illiteracy, i would ascertain that you are quite the opposite.

 

[hadsed]

Even if I'm not a 'smarter' person, you need to listen to the people with the shiny avatars and the awards under their names. They know a lot and they're accepted by the community here as people who know a lot. You're coming here asking for advice, you're getting it from people who have done it or are on the road to doing [what you want to do], and you're still whining.

Now, if you want to make it personal and call me a dumb primate or whatever, well you can do that all you'd like. However, if you want to be serious, you can go ahead and point out something that I've said that isn't correct. That's a pretty open challenge and something that, as I understand it in the time I've been on these forums, seems to be something like an unspoken rule. The point is to help people here by giving them advice. You come here with the most ridiculous misconceptions about physics, something that is not uncommon, looking for advice. That is good. What is not good is your absurd attitude towards the people who have tried to take you seriously and tried to help.

Go ahead and just talk to a professor when you get to college and when he asks you what type of research you're interested in, tell him string theory. Please, just tell me that you will do that much, and then come back and report to us because I'm interested to see how that goes.

 

[Philosopher_k]

I will. The school i plan on attending has string theory faculty.