Physics after a Theory of Everything

No, I think. There are many open problems in condensed matter physics. For example, I heard from my professors that the mechanism behind new superconductors is still a mystery.

Also. To understand the underlying rules does not always explain the system as a whole. There are complex systems that obeys simple underlying rules but cannot be explained directly by these simple rules, like biological systems.

And even simple rules could develop complex results. Examples like the game of life and the cellular automata. So I think there are still much more for physicists to explain.


We effectively have a TOE (Standard Model + GR, combined perturbatively) for almost all experimentally accessible conditions. And there is currently lots and lots of non-particle non-string-theory physics research (most physics research, in fact) where we essentially know the fundamental equations, but where these equations don't let us find the answers immediately.

So, unless we get to the point where we can deduce the behavior of any system from the TOE, there will still be lots of physics left to do.


One may have a TOE, but is it the best or only TOE? There are arguments that we cannot know the answer to these questions.