Splitters vs. Lumpers and their Influence on Species Creation

摘要

Albert Einstein's "General Theory of Relativity" published in 1916 forever made his name synonymous with "genius". Sadly, he spent a good part of the remainder of his life trying to integrate his gravitational theory with electromagnetic force, plus the strong and weak forces of the atom, into a single grand mathematical theory of everything, His failure to do this has similarly been the bane of physicists ever since. But rising in popularity over the past few years is "String Theory" (that suggests vibrating strings of energy, exceedingly smaller than the tiniest components of an atom are at the heart of all matter), indicating how far beyond pure science some science practitioners are willing to stray. "String Theory" does indeed allow a blueprint for a unified mathematical answer to existence, but it has one fatal flaw, and that flaw is substantial...it can never be proven!!! True, it can never be disproved either, so there are those who have good reason to relegate such an un-testable and thus un-provable theory as something other than science, perhaps a theory more akin to philosophy?