Theory of everything

A theory of everything (TOE) is a theory of theoretical physics and mathematics that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena. Initially, the term was used with an ironic connotation to refer to various overgeneralized theories. For example, a great-grandfather of Ijon Tichy — a character from a cycle of Stanis?aw Lem's science fiction stories of 1960s — was known to work on "General Theory of Everything" (Polish: "Ogólna Teoria Wszystkiego"). Over time, the term stuck in popularizations of quantum physics to describe a theory that would unify the theories of the four fundamental interactions of nature.

Speculative ideas

Attempts to create theories of everything are common among people outside the professional physics community. Some are created by amateurs, and their theories are often criticised on the basis of inability to make quantifiable and/or falsifiable predictions. For example, a theory of everything would provide some insight into the relative strength of forces, and predictions of particle lifetimes and cross sections. It would need to be shown to explain all known universal phenomena. Unlike professional physicists, who are generally aware that their proposed theory is incomplete, untested, and likely to be wrong and who are aware of the huge difficulties and challenges involved in creating a TOE, amateurs who create TOE's tend to be unaware of what work has already been done, the mechanisms for testing scientific theories and the fact that most proposed theories are wrong.

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Burkhard Heim and quantised general relativity

Burkhard Heim's theory of quantised general relativity purports to be a TOE but this theory, begun in the 1950s and still under development, had until recently sunk into obscurity. A sign that it is undergoing a renewal of interest is that a paper by Droescher and Haeuser on aerospace applications of Heim Theory was published by the AIAA in 2005 and was awarded the prize for best paper of the year by the Nuclear and Future Flight Propulsion Technical Committee. Supporters claim that Heim's six dimensional theory can predict the masses of some fundamental particles with considerable accuracy, which no established theory has yet been able to do.

Related Topics:
Burkhard Heim - Heim Theory - AIAA

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Eino Kaila

The prolific Finnish philosopher Eino Kaila attempted to construct a theory of everything based on the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics in the 1950s. His attempt did not get much attention outside Finland, and he only managed to write the first part of what he planned on making an extensive study on the subject. "Terminalkausalität als die Grundlage eines unitarischen Naturbegriffs" ("terminal causality as the foundation of a unitarian notion of nature"), published in 1956, formulated a new type of causality and was meant to be followed by similar works on psychology and biology.

Related Topics:
Finnish - Philosopher - Eino Kaila - Quantum mechanics - 1956 - Causality - Psychology - Biology

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Time Cube

Gene Ray's Time Cube concept is an example of an amateur TOE that is quite well-known, although some argue this to be due to a claimed entertainment value rather than its scientific merit. Mr. Ray claims to explain all known universal phenomena through the postulate that "Time is cubic, not linear". See list of alternative, speculative and disputed theories. Like many similar theories, it is regarded by some as pseudoscience. Academians tend to oppose Mr. Ray's ideas and consider them lunacy.

Related Topics:
Gene Ray - Time Cube - List of alternative, speculative and disputed theories - Pseudoscience

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