The Case for String Theory - Sixty Symbols

I read her book Lost in Math [1] which I have to say was quite a laborious endeavour. It is essentially a long-winded argument that is better summarised in this article and her YouTube channel, though she got to visit many scholars across the globe. Some agreed with her to a certain extent while others simply didn't (Nima Arkani-Hamid, for example, had no interest in her point of view). What I found most lacking was a viable path forward, an alternative to all this nay-saying. She had a section in the end with bullet points on what to do and not do, but it was quite brief and generic. I had a short but interesting exchange on Twitter with Dr. Tony Padilla who has spoken about the case for string theory on Numberphile [2]. He stands at the opposite end of the spectrum of course, and it's worth listening to what he has to say as well. Being a non-expert with just a casual interest in the inner workings of the universe, I am eagerly awaiting whatever the next breakthrough brings for our understanding of the cosmos, but I have to say that string theory and susy have seemed to over-promise and under-deliver with little prospect in sight, and perhaps at the detriment of a more fundamental or foundational approach. Indeed, the question of what is time has always bothered me, so I'm picking up Carlo Rivelli's book on this next [3]. [1] link [2] ▶ this video [3] link

I've never found a good description or explanation of string theory for the layman. I look, but then I always run into Brian Greene. I did find this video[1], where a professor explains why he at least believes there is something to it. Tl;dr - they weren't looking for strings. They sort of 'popped out' of the equations. [1] = ▶ this video

The case for string theory ▶ this video tl;dr - Nobody theorized strings. They were trying to solve the scattering problem of w-bosons and came up with a solution. The interpretation of the solution is strings.

I like ▶ this video (The case for String Theory). It shows that there is a natural progression to String Theory that very few other theories have.