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The math of quantum mechanics and the math of general relativity, when they confront one another, they are ferocious antagonists and the equations don't work.
Brian Greene
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the conflict between two major theories in physics: quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Brian Greene's quote illustrates the significant challenges faced by physicists when trying to reconcile the theories of quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of the very small, with general relativity, which governs the behavior of the very large. Despite their individual successes in explaining phenomena within their respective realms, these two frameworks produce conflicting results when applied simultaneously, indicating a deep unresolved issue in our understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe.

Themes

Quantum MechanicsGeneral RelativityPhysicsScienceTheories

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture discussing the challenges in modern physics, you could use this quote to illustrate the complexities of scientific theories.

More from Brian Greene

My best teachers were not the ones who knew all the answers, but those who were deeply excited by questions they couldn't answer.
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According to inflation, the more than 100 billion galaxies, sparkling throughout space like heavenly diamonds, are nothing but quantum mechanics writ large across the sky. To me, this realization is one of the greatest wonders of the modern scientific age.
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So: if you buy the notion that reality consists of the things in your freeze-frame mental image right now, and if you agree that your now is no more valid than the now of someone located far away in space who can move freely, then reality encompasses all of the events in spacetime.
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Black holes, we all know, are these regions where if an object falls in, it can't get out, but the puzzle that many struggled with over the decades is, what happens to the information that an object contains when it falls into a black hole. Is it simply lost?
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Physicists are more like avant-garde composers, willing to bend traditional rules... Mathematicians are more like classical composers.
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