Back to Home11/16/2025, 3:06:36 AM

Whatever Happened to String Theory?

signa11
31 points
13 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

neutral

Category

science

Key topics

String Theory

Theoretical Physics

Scientific Progress

Debate intensity40/100

The article discusses the current status and perceived decline of string theory in theoretical physics, sparking a discussion on its validity and impact.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

1d

Peak period

2

Day 2

Avg / period

2

Comment distribution2 data points

Based on 2 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/16/2025, 3:06:36 AM

    3d ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/17/2025, 8:30:09 AM

    1d after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    2 comments in Day 2

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/17/2025, 3:22:52 PM

    1d ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (13 comments)
Showing 2 comments of 13
lerno
2d ago
Over 25 years ago I was doing ny final thesis on string theory for my Masters degree. The more I read, the more I went ”this could not possibly be right”. I ended up taking a break to work to get perspective on things and decide whether I wanted to continue pursuing a career in theoretical physics. I never went back. And given that in this field, things have been stagnant for those 25 years, it seems my impressions were quite on the mark.

Having so many things required to make it work, that we could not verify always rubbed me the wrong way, as was the ability to always be able to add just one more patch to make it outlive each experimental or theoretical setback.

IAmBroom
1d ago
One of many relevant xkcd's.

https://xkcd.com/397

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ID: 45942427Type: storyLast synced: 11/16/2025, 9:42:57 PM

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