Suppose at some time in the near future scientists are finally able to solve that pesky problem of unifying electromagnetism with gravity i.e. the Grand Unified Theory.
Now what do we do with it?
Will this exquisite construct of mathematics and poetry have any real world applications? Will average joe’s everywhere start proclaiming “I don’t know how people managed to do anything without a Theory of Everything!” Will I never need to leave the house again?
I’m not a scientist nor do I know much about science (compared to many posters here). I am just curious as to the effect such a discovery would have on the world.
Any Grand Unified Theory will have to take into account quantum effects and the general uncertainty of the Universe as a whole, so most of Zenster’s predictions simply can’t happen: There apparently doesn’t exist any means to accurately know everything about a system, because measuring is an action and all actions add entropy to a system, increasing its information content in a random way. In other words, even a GUT will owe more to Heisenburg than Newton.
What it will help us with is modeling. As far as we can know something, the GUT will give us information about any possible system. Want to know what happens when a ten-kilo ball of ice collides with a 2000-solar mass black hole rotating at 500 rpm? Plug some numbers into the GUT and do the math, and you’ll find out everything you’ll ever be able to find out. In other words, it will do what physics equations always do: Make predictions from given data according to known rules.
In the long run, having a GUT will go a long way towards proving that the Universe is a comprehensible place, and that we possess the tools to comprehend it. Philosophically, that’s as profound as it gets. Having a GUT emblazoned on your t-shirt will be a symbol of humanity’s intelligence and creativity in the face of limited knowledge and limited resources.
Of course, if even if we know the appropriate equations that govern the universe, that doesn’t mean we can solve them. Eg. Imagine three planets moving in a Newtonian universe. We understand this universe perfectly. But can we give a position of planet n at time t? Can we bollocks.
In short, no one knows yet. Most advances in physics predate their eventual application by years (or decades or centuries). Some examples off the top of my head:
general relativity --> GPS satellites
discovery of the neutron --> neutron therapy (cancer treatment)
quantum mechanics --> lasers (your CD and DVD player)
special relativity --> atomic bombs (not all applications are happy)
electricity --> electricity (nearly everything)
Imagine how useless the work of the electromagnetism pioneers must have seemed. So, I don’t think anyone can give you a definite eventual application of any future GUT, but if history is no lie, someone will be clever enough to come up with one eventually – one that would have been impossible without that GUT.
(Also, secondary benefits come from the technological advancements necessary to test new theories. Physics experiments are often the sources of superlatives that industry can take advantage of (most precise widget; most uniform magnetic field; most seismicly isolated table…))
It will affect the average Joe. All those physicists that the world is employing right now can be redirected to useful occupations. Physics will then be just a question of doing the calculations.
If we were ever to come up with an answer to life, the universe, and everything, then the current universe would wink out of existence only to replaced by an even more inexplicable one.
The military will finally be able to stop using those primitive gravity bombs.
Evildoers everywhere will tremble before the awesome power of America’s new GUT bombs!
Perhaps GUT will be a major stepping-stone on the path to true quantum computation, which has virtually limitless applications. To put it in relative, and probably clichéd by now, terms a quantum computer is theoretically capable of performing calculations that would take a conventional computer (even one several factors faster than current ones) longer than the predicted life of the universe to solve. The things that Zenster pointed out are just a few examples of massively complex interactions that could be modeled.
We keep building bigger and faster computers to tackle bigger and tougher problems and with a quantum computer we’ll have, dare I say it, the final computer… until they invent the final computer mark II, in which case your model will instantly be worth no more than 30 bucks on ebay.
A quantum computer with finite precision arithmetic has a universal application in modelling very complex systems: it can produce wrong answers very quickly.
Actually a GUT is not the same a TOE: a GUT would unite the standard model (quantum chromodynamics and the elctroweak theory) into a single theory and thus explain strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions but not gravity whereas a TOE would expalin gravity as well.
If string theory is a good indication of what a TOE would be like then physicists would have to spend a long time just working out how to understand it.
The problem with quantum computers is that due to the collapse of the wavefunction they perform most operations at classical speeds so I don’t know if they would be useful in all fields of data.
It seemed to me that the TOE was always portrayed as the pinnacle of human civilization. I mean, they even call it the theory of Everything. I was wondering what all the brouhaha was about.
We’ll have the nine million names of God eventually. Once we do… :eek:
Thanks for pointing this out. I always wondered why there was two names for apparently the same thing. Now I know the GUT only refers to 3 of the 4 forces. Like I said, I’m not a big sciguy.
PS Zenster, you must be a very fun person to hang out with IRL.
It seems like I’ve heard this question before. I’d say it was about 300 years ago when I was an undergrad.
But Derleth, isn’t any predictive power of a theory limited by the accuracy of the information plugged into it? If you don’t have perfect information of starting conditions then no TOE or GUT is going to help.
Personally, I think the universe is a simulation program of the universe being run by some pan-dimensional being named Benjy.
Room temperature superconductors?
Artificial gravity generators?
With AGGs, not only could you make a spacecraft with artificial gravity, you could also have inertial compensation, and possibly a rudimentary warp drive!
Just as one can induce a magnetic field using electric current, and vice versa, maybe we can discover how to create a gravitic field with electromagnetism.
