I don't know what I'm talking about, but it's fascinating

As most of you know, I'm fascinated by Physics, M-Theory (string theory) in particular. I've recently been introduced into the world of Quantum Mechanics. I really don't understand most of it yet, but it's really interesting. It's like the philosophical side of physics.

Einstein's Relativity theories and Quantum Mechanics are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Relativity dealing with the large and quantum dealing with the very small subatomic. Something I learned recently is that both theories, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, have been tested and they both seem to be correct, but because of what each says, they couldn't both be right at the same time because they're conflicted. This is where String Theory comes in. String theory aims to unite the two theories into one big theory of everything. The interesting thing with String Theory is that those two prior conflicting theories are both necessary for it to exist. So it requires these two conflicting theories. What a trip, right?

Most people are generally familiar with Relativity, as I am, while Quantum Mechanics is a mystery. After learning about how it ties into String Theory, I decided to read into it a bit. I really don't understand most of it yet, but it's mind blowing. It's almost like the philosophical side of Physics. There's a lot to explain that I won't even attempt because I don't understand it myself, but the strangest part of it all is the uncertainty principal, which says that we can't measure two values, momentum and position, at the same time, so any measurements at the quantum level are actually just based on probability and can never be accurate because. This is because the behavior of things at the quantum (very small) level doesn't match up with the behavior of things at the larger levels, like the level we're in tune with. So because we aren't on that level, it seems like we can't hope to understand it completely (so far) with the devices and mathematics we have. It would be like living in 2D and having a 3D thing enter your world - you would never see it in it's entirety because all you're capable of seeing is one plane, so you wouldn't be able to understand what you were looking at fully with your knowledge. Pretty much, the human body is a poor measuring device for things at the subatomic level so we can't fully wrap our minds around things at that level.

It's crazy stuff. The philosophy side of things comes in when you try to figure out why particles at the subatomic level behave completely differently than things at our level and why we don't know it. Why wouldn't it be the same and how could it not be the same? This is where you have to start thinking about the information we recieve vs the reality we create based on that information - If we're poor measuring devices at the subatomic level and reality is based on the information we receive from the surrounding world, could our reality be wrong or flawed because it doesn't see the whole picture? Back before Einstein, scientists thought of space and time as two completely different things that weren't connected. Einstein came up with relativity and made time and space dependent on each other. Now what they want is to do something very similar, except instead of time and space, they're looking to connect information and reality. One major institution that's studying quantum mechanics is actually looking to collaborate with a philosopher!

My brain hurts.