Mental Health Month, Day 26:
John Baez on why bosonic string theory is said to require 26 dimensions —
“By now, if you’re a rigorous sort of pure mathematician, you must be suffering from grave doubts about the sanity of this whole procedure.”
Doubts? Let us just say I prefer
“The G-string is unique in that it combines the properties of all known string theories. It has 26-dimensional modes propagating to the left, 10-dimensional modes propagating to the right, and 2-dimensional modes just sitting around wondering what the hell is going on.”