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A theory of everything was all the rage in the 1980s. So where did it go? It is only the optimists who achieve anything in this world—theorist John Ellis once read this adage on a candy wrapper. It stuck with him, so much so that in 1986 he referenced this candy-wrapper wisdom in his Nature article “The superstring: theory of everything, or of nothing?” “I was pretty upbeat,” Ellis says. “I was pretty positive about it.” According to Ellis, ‘theory of everything’ is a rather tongue-in-cheek term for an encompassing framework that links together all physical phenomena on a fundamental level. The idea went viral, both scientifically and culturally. Numerous authors, philosophers and scientific influencers jumped on the bandwagon, including the makers of a 2014 biopic about Stephen Hawking. So why are so few people talking about a theory of everything today? “I'd be happy with a theory of anything. Anything more than what is described by the Standard Model.” “It would be...
a year ago

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