Abstract

Elementary particle physics once was founded en a sound basis, with theoreticians guided by experiments, and experimentalists searching to verify the predictions made by theoreticians. The culmination of these efforts is the standard model, a kind of periodic system of elementary particles. But elementary particle physics has now gone in a dangerous direction: Postulating. the existence of higher dimensional spaces, and trying to indoctrinate the less intelligent physicist (like myself) to believe that the ultimate building blocks of nature are one dimensional strings or higher dimensional membranes. Physical reality is defined by what is measurable. What is not measurable are quantities which are infinite or zero, like the zero diameter of a string or the vanishing thickness of a membrane. Mathematicians can, of course generalize the space concept to more than 3, (or less than 3) dimensions. but all physics laboratories are still three dimensional. This is the dogmatic cult of quantum mechanics and relativity as absolute truth, not just models, leading to such nonsensical constructs as strings in 10 dimensions.