Abstract
I examine the question of whether it is possible to construct a final theory of Nature in a reductionist sense. Complete unification implicitly assumes total knowledge of physical reality. Can such knowledge be obtained? I examine two fundamental limitations which indicate that the answer is in the negative. To begin, science cannot explain the problem of the first cause, even within a valid quantum mechanical formulation of gravity. Also, our knowledge of reality depends on a fundamental way on our measuring devices. These, in turn, are subject to technological and, at a deeper level, to quantum mechanical limitations. Since we cannot measure all there is, we cannot know all there is. Thus, the boundaries of measurement set the limits of physics and of our explanations of physical reality.
Marcelo Gleiser