Can String Theory Accommodate Inflation?

David Shiga writes "String theory is the leading contender for a "theory of everything" that could unite all the forces of physics. But a recent study suggests that it may be more difficult than scientists had hoped to square string theory with inflation — the widely accepted notion that the early universe had a period of especially rapid expansion. Some say this could even lead to the abandonment of either string theory or inflation, though no one is ruling out a possible resolution yet."

Comments

String Theory is Religon Not Science

[smack.addict]

String theory should be discarded. It's a fanciful religion that explains nothing, but creates a lot of stuff that needs explaining.

Re:String Theory is Religon Not Science

[ultranova]

I've never understood how string theory could ever be validated, except through funky math invented for the purpose.

That's simple, actually: have you ever fallend down ? Fallen flat on your face, when there's been seemingly nothing that could have caused you to lose your balance ? Well, since everything must have the cause, we can conclude that there must have been an invisible string which wrapped itself around your legs and made you fall. We can further conclude - with some more testing - that the strings are especially attracted to the legs of people who have alcohol in their bloodstream; just watch drunks wave around as they are being pulled this way and that by invisible strings as evidence.

And that's all there is to string theory.

I would like to see some experiments

[causality]

When any Big Bang type of theory is mentioned, I sometimes wonder why alternative theories, like the Electric Universe, are never mentioned, as though there is only one way to try to explain cosmological phenomenon. I would really like to see some experiments or at least some solid reasoning (instead of the usual approach, which is dismissal) to attempt to falsify some of the claims made here or here or here.

While I am not entirely certain that the Electric Universe has The Truth either (nor do I think it's a good idea to ever fully believe that this is the case), I too am tired of hearing about the "reality" of mathematical entities that have never been directly observed, and of the tendency to just insert dark matter wherever it's needed, after the fact (as opposed to predicting its presence and location by theory), when it is found that our currently understanding otherwise fails to describe the objects we are seeing. I do agree with Wal Thornhill that cosmology is beginning to resemble the Ptolemaic epicycles.

It's also a shame that (at least in the USA) the funding system has made science another self-reinforcing status quo just like the political system, in that no one who is willing to change things and try a totally different approach has any chance of receiving the funding and support that's necessary to get off the ground.