String Theory -- what is the current status?

[MMS]

Hi guys,

To the experts of particle physics and of course to anyone else who knows and wants to share, what is the current status of string theory? Is there any progress? regress? are we stuck at a point (if so, I'd love to know which and why)?

Thanks.

 

[phinds]

String theory is pretty much where it has been for 30 or 40 years ... mathematically elegant and showing great promise but the promise never seems to turn into anything.

There was another thread on this today linking to an interview w/ Whitten. He was optimistic about string theory 25 years ago and he is optimistic about it today, and if he lives another 25 years he'll probably still be optimistic that some day it's going to produce results that are meaningful in physics rather than just in math.

 

[Puma]

Smolin points out in 'the trouble with physics' that there are 7 constants which never quite settle down, an arbitrary number of dimensions, and (maybe) a special force which keeps the ends of the strings apart (?) Anyhow my question is how easy would it be to create 'ball theory', 'spiral theory' and so forth with such a huge amount of flexibily? My laymans answer - easy peasy, but would like to hear from an expert.