A classic formula for pi has been discovered hidden in hydrogen atoms

[hifiguy]

17. I think the only thing it means standing by itself

is that there is some fundamental deep, and as yet undiscovered, unity to the laws of physics.

If we don't destroy the planet first I think we are only three or maybe four Einsteins away from getting to the Bottom Of It All.

I am currently reading Lee Smolin's books "Time" and "The Trouble With Physics." Fascinating guy, and a director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Toronto. Brilliant and iconoclastic thinker. He's convinced that string theory is nothing but the mental masturbation of extremely bright people that may or more probably may never offer even a single idea that can be tested or make a prediction about to an observable phenomenon, meaning that ultimately it ain't real science. He makes a hell of a case for that argument. I've read a lot of the non-math writing by major string theorists and it is conceptually lovely and elegant, as its proponents claim. But that might only mean it is really good science fiction and nothing more.

Even more interesting is Smolin's contention that the full implications of Einstein's theories have not yet been worked/thought through, which he considers to be a major error. He's well worth a close read.

And then there's the whole fascinating topic of emergence....