Essay Abstract
The twin pillars of twentieth-century physics, quantum theory and general relativity, have conceptual errors in their foundations, which are at the heart of the repeated failures to combine these into a single unified theory of physics. The problem with quantum theory is related to the use of the point-particle model, and the problem with general relativity follows from a misinterpretation of the significance of the equivalence principle. Correcting these conceptual errors leads to a new model of matter called the space wave model which is outlined here. The new perspective gained by space wave theory also makes it clear that there are conceptual errors in the two main thrusts of twenty-first-century theoretical physics, string theory and loop quantum gravity. The string model is no more satisfactory than the point-particle model and the notion that space must be quantized is, frankly, nonsensical. In this paper I examine all of these conceptual errors and suggest how to correct them so that we can once again make progress toward a unified theory of physics.
Author Bio
Assistant Professor of Physics and Mathematics. PhD in Physics from University of Wisconsin. Research interests are in the foundations of quantum theory and special relativity and in the search for a unified theory of physics.