575424…

I agree with you about the schools, my secret agenda in organizing summer schools is learning all this stuff :-). Attending short schools in other areas is also fun, I went to one-week school on quantum computing once and had great time, very invigorating immersing yourself in something new and unfamiliar.

It works like any field of scientific research has done. We all keep abreast of the big picture, but I’m talking about details right down to the bedrock. Nobody (well, maybe except for Ed?) knows all the ins and outs of every nook and cranny… and even if they did for an instant, the fact that there are hundreds of people waking up every day and discovering more results makes it only a temporary affair.

This is true in any field.

This is why people have conferences to announce and discuss new results, etc. But at conferences, it’s often only at a broad level, and over a wide range of topics. Schools gather experts in specific topics, under a theme, and they often give long pedagogical lectures on the new stuff and how it fits in context with the old stuff. Or they used to when I was a lad. They are attended mostly by the younger set who perhaps don’t fully appreciate all that they’re seeing, since they’re new to the field. That’s sort of funny**. Perhaps more old folks should go to school…

-cvj

**P.S. Of course, it is great that young people who are seeing the material for the first time see it like this too…. this allows them to see the whole thing without prejudice -their ignorance on many details can be a plus- and make connections that need to new results. This is (and has been, and will continue to be) of huge value to the field…

I find this intriguing. How does String Theory research work then? Is it like a huge amoeba, pushing outwards into different directions, the space being pushed into being the various discoveries and the edge of the beastie being the vigorous researchers pulling parts of the interior with them? A part of edge drags its nearest neighbours, which in turn drags its own nearest neighbours. An exciting discovery is somehow louder and affects more edge than a lesser one, so the whole edifice moves along, enlarging into math space?

Probably not, but how does anyone know what to do next?

Other than that, I love the idea of the disguised professor at school. Surely a phoney French accent would help here! “Oh no, a bombe”, lol.