Yeah I agree with you there too. String theory was a set of fun
efforts by new mathematicians seeking a way to get up in the
ranks quickly and establish a name for themselves in their
departments in the 90s, but it didn't end up anywhere... just
mathematical circles.
Maybe they'll get a breakthrough, who knows? But they managed to
secure a lot of funding for at least a dozen years, so it's not
really a failure for those involved in it. It was a financial
success, even if not a lot of discoveries came out of it. Mind
you, I rooted for String theory for a long time. I *wanted*
"pure math* to win. But since studying philosophy and seeing the
roots, i can only back mathematics so far. Once they find a
single workable model, they'll end up with 120 equally workable
models or more, because that's the nature of mathematics; it's a
closed Universe, unlike the real Universe, which is still an
unfolding system. Algorithms stand a small chance of decent
modeling over mathematics but it'd still be skeleton form and
even THEN, only of limited applicability. Useful? yes. But
describing everything? Not entirely, no.
