Big TOE

There's a new contender for a Theory of Everything: as Dr. McKamy called it, the Big Toe. The guy who came up with it is a physicist and surfer, and quite a colorful character, and do be warned that there's some colorful language in this interview.

In my extremely non-physicist understanding of how the idea works, there's a mathematical construct called E8, that has 248 points, and Garrett Lisi is able to map subatomic particles on it. He's able to include all (?) the known particles, and they sort themselves out into sensible families, and there's even room for the particles they think might go with gravity. I like his intro: he talks about how a mathematical theory should be beautiful and simple, and the more elaborate an explanation is, the less likely it actually corresponds to reality.

Cool, no?

Hat tip: the Point.