8. Can you summarize The Theory of Everything?
A. All physical knowledge today can be summarized in two theories: the quantum theory (which describes electricity and magnetism and the nuclear forces) and relativity (which describes gravity). The quantum theory describes the world of the very small inside the atom, while relativity describes the world of the very large (e.g. expanding universes and black holes).
The Theory of Everything should unite these two theories into a single, coherent theory. Einstein spent 30 years of his life chasing after this theory, which would allow him to "read the Mind of God," but he failed. Today, our best (and only) candidate is called string theory, which is what I do for a living.
And this summer, the Large Hadron Collider (the largest atom smasher in the world) will be turned on, and we hope to test the periphery of this theory. If proven correct, it will be the crowning achievement of 2,000 years of science, ever since the Greeks asked the question, what is the world made of?
9. Do you feel the knowledge that you've gathered through the years has allowed you to see the world differently from when you were, say, a college student?
A. Yes. When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of science fiction. I used to wonder about time travel, parallel universes, anti-matter, the fourth dimension, etc. But eventually, I realized that I would wind up as a crackpot, always babbling about pseudo-scientific theories, unless I got serious and "paid my dues," i.e., unless I learned the most advanced mathematics and physics. Today, after years of doing research on the most advanced physics in the world, I know the precise boundary where advanced physics ends and science fiction ends. That's one reason I wrote the book, Physics of the Impossible, so that I could tell young people whether certain technologies were possible in the future or not.
10. How does the rest of the world view the U.S.'s take on science?
A. Let's put politics aside and just talk about science. I do a lot of lecturing around the world, and wherever I go, I am surprised that people admire and envy the science created in the U.S. It's surprising to me, since the U.S. has the worst educational system known to science. U.S. kids score near the very bottom in almost every math and physics exam. So why doesn't the U.S. collapse as a technological nation? The U.S. does a miserable job in educating the average student, but the U.S. has two secret weapons that other nations don't have. The first is the H1B visa (the genius visa), which puts high-tech immigrants on the fast track right to a green card and Silicon Valley, where they go on to create entirely new industries. Fifty percent of Silicon Valley is actually foreign born. This is the brain drain. The second is that our education system selects out the exceptional student. In the East, there is the expression, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." In the U.S., we have the expression, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." The U.S. educational system does nurture exceptional, creative talent, which is the weak spot in many Asian societies.
