The End of Physics? TOE Discovery Questions

[Atomos]

If a TOE is discovered, is physics over? Will there be nothing worthwhile left to study?

 

[JamesU]

what do toes have to do with tthe end of physics?

 

[Thrice]

Yeas and we will be gods & stuff

 

[Atomos]

Yeas

That is exceedingly depressing. If that is so, I might as well drop out of school now, since physics will be over in the next 5-10 years.

 

[Curious3141]

That is exceedingly depressing. If that is so, I might as well drop out of school now, since physics will be over in the next 5-10 years.

I hope you're not serious.

Regarding Max Planck :

"..The Munich physics professor Philipp von Jolly advised him against
going into physics, saying, "in this field, almost everything is
already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few holes."

(From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck)

"In the era before 1900, before the 'revolution in physics' created
the 'modern physics : Quantum Mechanics and Relativity it seemed to many
that 'classical physics' can explain everything.

It was an era of 'calm before a storm';

However, it was never a universal feeling that 'all was dicovered'.
Lord Kelvin (whose name was used to name a unit of temperature) was
aware of problems which lead to that revolution:

"On 27th April 1900, Lord Kelvin gave a lecture to the Royal
Institution of Great Britain. The title of the lecture was
Nineteenth-Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light.
Kelvin mentioned, in his characteristic way, that the "beauty and
clearness of theory" was overshadowed by "two clouds". He was talking
about the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment and the
problems of blackbody radiation. In fact, these "two clouds" were to
herald the early 20th century revolution in theoretical physics with
the emergence of relativity and quantum theory..."

(From : http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Physics3/Kelvin_online/clouds.htm )

 

[Gokul43201]

To think it was Michelson that said :

The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote… Our future discoveries must be looked for in the six place of decimals.

How ironic !

Finding a TOE, if that happens, will do absolutely nothing to answering the hundreds of open questions in other areas of physics (turbulence, HTSC, Navier Stokes smoothness, a whole host of emergent behavior, the physical understanding of biological systems).

 

[wolram]

Was it Mott that said his TOE involved eating huge amounts of pasta ?

 

[scott1]

If a TOE is discovered, is physics over? Will there be nothing worthwhile left to study?

Of cource not. Look at all other theories that tries to slove one major mystery and unsolved problem in physics it creates another even bigger mysteroious and unsolved problem.

Saying the TOE will end physics is like saying that what said in the late 1800's and early 1900's "By the end of this era everything will be discoverd" and they were very worng

 

[ZapperZ]

If a TOE is discovered, is physics over? Will there be nothing worthwhile left to study?

If and when they found this "TOE", whatever that is, they'll still never be able to use it to derive superconductivity or any other emergent phenomena. This means that there are other emergent phenomena that are yet to be discovered and unpredicted by this TOE. A lot of good that it does!

https://www.physicsforums.com/journal.php?do=showentry&e=48&enum=14

Zz.

 

[Mk]

Was it Mott that said his TOE involved eating huge amounts of pasta ?

No, it was applesauce.

 

[Dawguard]

Coming from someone who knows nothing about advanced physics, what's a TOE and why would it be such a big deal?

 

[big man]

Theory of Existence?

 

[Hootenanny]

Theory of Existence?

Close, but no cigar; TOE = Theory of EVERYTHING!

~H

 

[big man]

haha damnit...

I tried. It was the only thing I could come up with :)
At least I got the theory bit right