Okay so. String Theory. (Which seems to have fallen out of fashion?)
The bumper sticker version is "all matter is made out of tiny vibrating strings" yeah? But like... wtf does that even mean? What is it a vibration in, and what does vibration mean on a quantum scale? It's not at all an illuminating metaphor. And it IS a metaphor, right? Like, the actual physics is only really expressible mathematically?
Quantum Field Theory I can at least pretend to understand the metaphor of after a 15-minute youtube video.
My math never got beyond a couple semesters of college calculus so I have no hope of actually understanding these beyond a metaphorical level.
(whether mathematics is also metaphorical is a whole other ball of frighteningness.)
Anyway things aren't made out of things and "matter" is mostly a useful abstraction.
