The Myth of a Unified Theory

Among scientists only physicists still believe in the dream of a single theory, and among them only the theoreticians, and in fact only those that work on string theory, quantum gravity, and other attempts to "unify" the fundamental forces of nature--a tiny but vocal minority, vocal because people want to hear what they say. These are the celebrities of science, since only their work still embodies the mythical goal of science.

Meanwhile, the fundamental forces are fundamental only on the plane of ideology; in the actual practice of physicists, there is a proliferation of models, equations, approximations; everything points to an always increasing diversity. Nature and Science, as concepts, are about to fracture; only the myth of a unified theory (which is the myth of reductionism) still holds them together.