M theory, holography, many worlds -- What we do know?

[Joao]

Hi! Sorry for my bad English!

I don't know much of physics, I know some experiments that show that relativity is real, quantum entanglement, particle and wave duality and so on...

So, the only theory that explain all of it mathematically is M theory and the strings, but we can never test it to see if it's really the way nature works or not... Is it correct?

Since wave/particle duality shows that stuff travels as "probability waves", would it sound too absurd to think that it's like there are 2 universes: one that the information is processed (like, mathematically) and the other, the one we see, were we see the results... That's the basis of the holographic universe theory that, by the way, even gives some awnser to the graviton problem... did I get It right?

But, and more relevant: quantum eraser, delayed choice experiments, to me, shows that the true nature of the universe is not causal, it's teleological.

After all, the universe works in a way to assure that a goal is accomplished: if the which way info is available, behave as a particle, if not, as a wave.

It doesn't matter much for the universe the time (past or future), the cause-effect (as the cause that allow us to know which path isn't there when get when the measurement occours). What matters is the goal, not the means.

So, to make myself more clear, please, did I understood this correctly:

1. The only theory that gives a mathematical basis to the phenomena we see is M theory, but it can't be tested.

2. There is some strange kind of processing the information before it became available in our everyday world.

3. The universe is more teleological than causalistic.

I know it's a very bad understanding, it's like saying an elephant is something big and gray, but that's all I can understand by now...

Thanks again! =)

 

[mitchell porter]

So, to make myself more clear, please, did I understood this correctly:
1. The only theory that gives a mathematical basis to the phenomena we see is M theory, but it can't be tested.

The theory that works right now is "standard model" (a particular quantum field theory with quarks, leptons, Higgs, etc), plus gravity, plus some extra fields to explain the dark sector, neutrino masses, and some other details. We have very little data about the extra stuff so there are many many models that work.

String theory is the best candidate to explain, in turn, all the assumptions that the standard model uses to explain everything else. We can say this because of its qualitative features. However, quantitative predictions for things like the mass of the electron are determined by the geometry of the extra dimensions, and there are a zillion possible geometries, and no one geometry has been singled out as probably the right one. It is a multi-decade effort to understand all the possibilities and zero in on the best candidates, and finding the right geometry (or alternatively, showing that none of them work) would be the crowning achievement.

2. There is some strange kind of processing the information before it became available in our everyday world.
3. The universe is more teleological than causalistic.

This is the question of what quantum mechanics means for the nature of reality. There are certainly people who interpret it the way you have stated (e.g. the transactional interpretation), but if you look in the quantum forum here, you will find other interpretations.

 

[Joao]

Really really thanks a lot! Now I understand it way better then I used to! Really thanks! =)