Theories of Everything, Mapped

Quanta magazine reports:

“Ever since the dawn of civilization,” Stephen Hawking wrote in his international bestseller A Brief History of Time, “people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world.”

In the quest for a unified, coherent description of all of nature — a “theory of everything” — physicists have unearthed the taproots linking ever more disparate phenomena.

The vast majority of these efforts are foolish and misguided, in my opinion, but please click on the link and click "START" for a snazzy map of all these theories on your screen. It looks great. You can waive your mouse over it, and feel as if you are touching some grand idea, all tied in together.

It is just a stupid collection of failed buzzwords, of course, but it looks great.