system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: String theory

It has been a year since the last post. Let's have some new perspectives!
gpt
The illustrations of strings and such that you'll see if you google this subject are almost irrelevant in an explanation of string theory. In physics at the moment, we have two big theories which both produce very accurate experimental data: quantum theory and general relativity.

Quantum deals with very small stuff (sub-atomic level particles), and general relativity deals with space-time and gravity.

Scientists are searching for a Theory of Everything, which would either make quantum and relativity theories coherent with each other, OR it will completely supersede both of those theories.

In quantum theory, the smallest 'things' are elementary particles (including the old favourites - electrons, photons, bosons, and several more). String theory suggests that those elementary particles are made up of *strings*, so called strings because they have only 1 dimension.

Combinations of these strings allow us to build up our usual three spatial dimensions, plus several more. The maths involved has thus far been consistent, and compatible with our understanding of the universe at large. However, we'll see in the future whether string theory can produce accurate experimental results. Due to the scale involved, experiments involving strings are very difficult to put together!