The Unseen Dimensions That May Govern Existence

If occasional brushes with relativity theory, quantum mechanics and similar concepts have made your head spin--quick now, is it fermions or bosons that occupy the same space?--you won't be pleased to hear that the most talked-about new idea in physics, "superstring" theory, makes Einstein seem like whistlin' Dixie.

Superstring theory posits there are at least 10 and perhaps 26 invisible dimensions crammed into every particle of your body, folded up to unimaginable smallness, and that from such structures, reality is composed. The invisible dimensions have no mass, but by spinning incredibly fast, they impart the qualities of mass to larger things such as protons and electrons. Thus, the universe is ultimately made of spinning nothing locked up in weird miniature dimensions that are wholly real, yet cannot be detected by any instrument, not even the largest and most powerful particle accelerator or "atom smasher."

More on superstring theory in a moment, but first let's make a parallel between it and theology. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was considered strange when proposed, but it had testable elements. The theory predicted that there would be black holes, that some distant starlight would arrive at Earth "bent," and that the universe might be expanding. When the existence of black holes, bent starlight and cosmic expansion were confirmed, relativity theory became grounded in the observed. Quantum mechanics, in turn, predicted that subatomic particles would exhibit counterintuitive properties, such as the ability to hold energy only in discrete amounts--say, in units or one or two, but never one-and-a-half. When atom smashers found exactly those properties, quantum theory became an observed effect.

Continued on page 2: »