How to imagine the tenth dimension

[Alex K]

String theory (and the rest of its familial variants) has yet to deliver any compelling evidence. Some models are conveniently impossible to test for, requiring on the order of one or two universes worth of energy.

It's a blight that experimentalists are slowly dismantling and making room for new theoretical models that actually match the data. I remember at several points in time for the LHC there was a discussion of "if we get results in $band of energy, it will provide some evidence for string theory/super symmetry variant $X". And every time they found nothing.

Woit continues to be well founded in his criticism, much to the annoyance of Smolin et al.

A lot of unscientific BS has been said by string theorists over the years, and "if we find X at the LHC, that's evidence for string theory" is mostly in that department if you ask me. If extra dimensions or supersymmetry or that sort of thing would be discovered at the LHC after all, those could of course exist without there being string theory behind it. Only in a very special scenario with very light string resonances would it actually be possible to observe the stringyness of particles in the lab and thus really collect direct evidence for strings, but nature doesn't need to be like that. That being said, Peter Woit now saying "told you so" is not something that I find very impressive - you can always make it your hobby to shit on a speculative enterprise and then gloat -, but he has one point, the work on Superstring theory was overhyped especially in the US, and having bullshitters like Michio Kaku on all channels doesn't help. My most cited paper is on higgs physics in a string model, go figure...