Prediction: 2011 will become known as the most important year in science.

[md65536]

I'm going to go the opposite direction of Stephen Hawking and bet that by the end of this year, we will have a generally accepted theory that unifies relativity and quantum mechanics.

 

I will also predict that there will be an explosion of related scientific discoveries over this year and the next few. In previous great years in the history science, there have always been few people working on the cutting edge of science, relative to the number of scientists working today, and the world took a long time to catch up. Today, there are so many brilliant minds who have a hundred years' worth of understanding of modern physics, who are ready for the next level of puzzles that will be unlocked when someone finds the missing piece to the current puzzle. There will be great excitement among scientists, which will attract further attention and excitement towards science in general. Theories related to a unified theory will force us to accept that "Everything we know about the universe from the largest scale to the smallest has changed", and this year will be seen as the end of the modern age of science and the start of the next age, with the very principles and methods of science undergoing an evolutionary transformation.

 

 

 

 

This prediction is based on "hope" and wishful thinking, perhaps a bit of delusion, and maybe even a dash of secret information.

 

Any takers? I will wager 400 quatloos.

 

 

Edit: Okay I'm changing my bet to say that I was on crack, and on further thought perhaps I agree with Hawking, who expects only "a 'family of interconnected theories' might emerge, with each describing a certain reality under specific conditions."

http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2010/09/hawking-mlodinow-no-theory-of_30.html

 

Perhaps within a year or two, there will be evidence that various competing models are at the same time correct, and unreconcilable... That the reality of the universe is fundamentally different depending on how you observe it. A sort of complementarity principle for the universe as a whole.

 

Would a discovery of something like this count as a ToE? It's kind of an anti-ToE. The pessimist in me now says that whatever is discovered, acceptance and continuation of the work will be as slow today as ever, and science itself will resist a "greatest year in the history of science", preferring to take a gradual, evolutionary pace.

 

 

I guess my new bet is: "Something interesting will happen in 2011. Or perhaps nothing interesting at all will happen this year. One or the other though... I'm 95% sure!"

Edited January 4, 2011 by md65536

[Doc. Josh]

Well i agree year 2011 does have it's share of secrets to unvail. What that exactaly is i don't know but it appears as time continues their must be a change in the times. And the era of modern times may in fact have ran it's course. We may very well be on the frontier of scientific era. Aids cure,cancer cures, More space exploration and answers that have puzzled "modern man" and past may come to light within the next decade. I just hope we wouldnt in other words hit a brick wall and become stagnant. Their are only so many new apps to create lol.

[Just the Facts]

I agree that this year has great potential to make new strides in our knowledge/understanding of the universe.

I am certain the gains will be made in the Plasma Physics and Electric model over the current gravity based theories.

Hold on to your seats.. The future in coming, like it or not. For some of us, it's already here.

 

 

[Moontanman]

In 2011 we will discover not just alien life but intelligent alien life....