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George Shiber

Teach thy tongue to say “I do not know” and thou shall progress ― Talmud (Tractate Berachot 4a) – Misattributed to Maimonides

Believe those who are seeking truth, doubt those who find it ― André Gide

Have the courage to know, but more importantly, have the courage to doubt ― A. Ghazali

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children ― Khalil Gibran

Think of it: of the infinity of real numbers, those that are most important to mathematics — 0, 1, √2, e and π — are located within less than four units on the number line. A remarkable coincidence? A mere detail in the Creator’s grand design? I let the reader decide ― Eli Maor, ‘e: The Story of a Number’ (1994)

You honor me by reading this. I am a philosopher, mathematician, and logician by vocation. Let’s warm-up with a joke: How does a string-theorist propose for marriage? With a Hodge diamond chiral ring. I was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Beirut, and moved to the U.S. in 1984. I spent my first year at Harvard University before Melvin Schwartz and Edward Said lured me to Columbia University. There, I had the honor to study under Charles ParsonsHaim GaifmanShaughan LavineIssac Levi, Sidney MorgenbesserThomas PoggeEdward SaidHerves Jaquet, David Albert, and Melvin Schwartz. I got interested in philosophy, mathematics, and logic very early in life, and superstring/M-theory due to the influence of my cousin Ramzi Khuri, a world-renowned string/M-theorist, and my cousin Kamal Khuri-Makdisi, a world-renowned mathematician. I did my Doctoral studies in mathematical logic and the philosophy of science at The Graduate Center/CUNY under the supervision of Jerrold Katz, Hartry Field, and Elliott Mendelson. I also had the extreme privilege to study superstring/M-Theory at The Institute for Advanced Study under Edward WittenMichael AtiyahShiing-Shen Chern, and Chen-Ning Yang. Since 2006, I have mostly been researching systematic ways of deriving F-theory from M-theory and the Standard Model of physics from F-theory, and since 2016, writing a book on F-theory. Here is why string/M-theory is true, assuming quantum mechanics/QFT and General Relativity are true: A) All consistent theories of quantum gravity are in the string landscape. B) String/M-theory is the only theory/framework of quantum gravity coupled to matter and the Standard Model ‘Gauge/Higgs/Yukawa’ sectors in any unified sense. C) All quantum Yang-Mills and Yang-Mills-Higgs theories are stringy. D) All higher-spin quantum field theories coupled to gravity are stringy. Amid the many views I revisionistically adhere to, most prominent are metaphysical realism, quasi-scientific realism, virtue epistemology, neo-Aristotelean ethics, all things Arthur Danto on art and aesthetics, mathematical Platonism. I am a post-humanist, quasi-atheist/methodological agnostic, ex-existentialist, recovering Marxist, liberal-egalitarian, and Kantian leftist. I periodically and regularly give talks on radio and link them, any feedback is welcomed.

 

Plato is my friend – Aristotle is my friend – but my greatest friend is truth ― Isaac Newton

Don’t let me catch anyone talking about the Universe in my department ― Ernest Rutherford

Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously ― Gilbert K. Chesterton

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