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One of the strangest features of string theory is that it requires more than the three spatial dimensions that we see directly in the world around us. That sounds like science fiction, but it is an indisputable outcome of the mathematics of string theory.
Brian Greene -
For me it's been very exciting to contribute to the public's understanding of how rich and wondrous science is.
Brian Greene
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String theory is not the only theory that can accommodate extra dimensions, but it certainly is the one that really demands and requires it.
Brian Greene -
Writing for the stage is different from writing for a book. You want to write in a way that an actor has material to work with, writing in the first person not the third person, and pulling out the dramatic elements in a bigger way for a stage presentation.
Brian Greene -
I would say in one sentence my goal is to at least be part of the journey to find the unified theory that Einstein himself was really the first to look for.
Brian Greene -
I've seen children's eyes light up when I tell them about black holes and the Big Bang.
Brian Greene -
Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty.
Brian Greene -
Even when I wasn't doing much 'science for the public' stuff, I found that four or five hours of intense work in physics was all my brain could take on a given day.
Brian Greene
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There are many of us thinking of one version of parallel universe theory or another. If it's all a lot of nonsense, then it's a lot of wasted effort going into this far-out idea. But if this idea is correct, it is a fantastic upheaval in our understanding.
Brian Greene -
Our eyes only see the big dimensions, but beyond those there are others that escape detection because they are so small.
Brian Greene -
The pinpoints of starlight we see with the naked eye are photons that have been streaming toward us for a few years or a few thousand.
Brian Greene -
There may be many Big Bangs that happened at various and far-flung locations, each creating its own swelling, spatial expanse, each creating a universe - our universe being the result of only one of those Big Bangs.
Brian Greene -
We are living through a remarkably privileged era, when certain deep truths about the cosmos are still within reach of the human spirit of exploration.
Brian Greene -
In any finite region of space, matter can only arrange itself in a finite number of configurations, just as a deck of cards can be arranged in only finitely many different orders. If you shuffle the deck infinitely many times, the card orderings must necessarily repeat.
Brian Greene
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The real question is whether all your pondering and analyses will convince you that life is worth living. That's what it all comes down to.
Brian Greene -
Very much, string theory is simply a work in progress. What we are inching toward every day are predictions that within the realm of current technology we hope to test. It's not like we're working on a theory that is permanently beyond experiment. That would be philosophy.
Brian Greene -
I can't stand clutter. I can't stand piles of stuff. And whenever I see it, I basically just throw the stuff away.
Brian Greene -
I can assure you that no string theorist would be interested in working on string theory if it were somehow permanently beyond testability. That would no longer be doing science.
Brian Greene -
My emotional investment is in finding truth. If string theory is wrong, I'd like to have known that yesterday. But if we can show it today or tomorrow, fantastic.
Brian Greene -
I've had various experiences where I've been called by Hollywood studios to look at a script or comment on various scientific ideas that they're trying to inject into a story.
Brian Greene
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I think the relationship between memory and time is a very deep and tricky one, to tell you the truth. I don't consider memory another sense. I do consider memory that which allows us to think that time flows.
Brian Greene -
One of the wonders of science is that it is completely universal. It crosses national boundaries with total ease.
Brian Greene -
Over the centuries, monumental upheavals in science have emerged time and again from following the leads set out by mathematics.
Brian Greene -
There may have been many big bangs, one of which created our universe. The other bangs created other universes.
Brian Greene