

LHC spots no black holes, eliminates some versions of string theory - Nick_C
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/12/lhc-spots-no-black-holes-eliminates-some-versions-of-string-theory.ars

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Maro
I actually submitted a version of this yesterday, but then deleted it, because
it didn't seem relevant to Hacker News. Problem is, there are so many models
in String Theory, I don't think this negative result will be a significant
detriment for stringy researchers. From what I know, string theory is more of
a framework than a concrete theory.

From TFA:

 _Contrary to some reports, this result doesn't mean the death of string
theory, only the particular flavor that predicted black holes at these
energies..._

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nolok
Is it my understanding that, in such high level physics, getting something
proven wrong is never a detriment.

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Create
As it stands, string theory is _not even wrong_.

There is no scientific proof of it, even though there are many careers based
on it. It can make a good living, like religion to priests.

This is just the usual HEP PR mill.

~~~
iwwr
As far as I understand (not being a mathematician/physicist), it's a
unification framework rather than one theory. As a framework, it's not right
or wrong, but can be fertile or infertile (akin to what philosophy is to
logic, string theory would be to physics). If a (the?) TOE is found among
string theories, the approach would have been fertile.

String theories are not quite like religion in that they are falsifiable, just
usually not falsifiable within current technical possibilities. This
experiment in the OP falsified one of the lower energy possibilities.

With this in mind, though, it may be more useful to support research closer to
applied fields. That is, if public money is supporting the string theory
industry, a cut in that direction would be appropriate.

