It's indeed surprising that replacing the elementary particle with a string leads to such a big change in things. I'm tempted to say that it has to do with the fuzziness it introduces. Edward Witten More Quotes by Edward Witten More Quotes From Edward Witten As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions wouldn't be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms aren't: we see many atoms together but we don't see atoms individually. Edward Witten everyday teamwork together String theory is 21 st century physics that fell accidentally into the 20th century. Edward Witten strings physics century One of the basic things about a string is that it can vibrate in many different shapes or forms, which gives music its beauty. Edward Witten different beauty giving I wouldn't have thought that a wrong theory should lead us to understand better the ordinary quantum field theories or to have new insights about the quantum states of black holes. Edward Witten black fields ordinary There was a long history of speculation that in quantum gravity, unlike Einstein's classical theory, it might be possible for the topology of spacetime to change. Edward Witten change might long 1/r^2 has a nasty singularity at r=0, but it did not bother Newton-the Moon is far enough. Edward Witten newton nasty moon There are a lot of basic things about Einstein's theory of relativity that seemed like science fiction when I was a student, this is the first time we've seen the full force of Einstein's theory of gravity at work. Edward Witten science I don't care about movies. I tend to play badminton once a week. Edward Witten movies badminton care play It's an exaggeration to say that I came up with M-theory. Edward Witten i-came say up exaggeration If you are a researcher, you are trying to figure out what the question is as well as what the answer is. Edward Witten question answer you trying Technically you need the extra dimensions. At first people didn't like them too much, but they've got a big benefit, which is that the ability of string theory to describe all the elementary particles and their forces along with gravity depends on using the extra dimensions. Edward Witten need you too-much people Regardless of any deviations, it was clear I was supposed to end up in math and physics. Edward Witten end up clear physics Having those extra dimensions and therefore many ways the string can vibrate in many different directions turns out to be the key to being able to describe all the particles that we see. Edward Witten key being see different Spreading out the particle into a string is a step in the direction of making everything we're familiar with fuzzy. You enter a completely new world where things aren't at all what you're used to. Edward Witten step new you world You have that one basic string, but it can vibrate in many ways. But we're trying to get a lot of particles because experimental physicists have discovered a lot of particles. Edward Witten get because you trying
