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increases the smearing from the second. The upshot is that no matter how hard you try, the extended nature of a string prevents you
from using it to probe phenomena on sub-Planck-length distances.

But the whole conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics arises from the sub-Planck-length properties of the
spatial fabric. If the elementary constituent of the universe cannot probe sub-Planck-scale distances, then neither it nor anything
made from it can be affected by the supposedly disastrous short-distance quantum undulations. This is similar to what happens as
we draw our hand across a highly polished granite surface. Although at a microscopic level the granite is discrete, grainy, and
bumpy, our fingers are unable to detect these short-scale variations and the surface feels perfectly smooth. Our stumpy, extended
fingers "smear" out the microscopic discreteness. Similarly, since the string has spatial extent, it also has limits on its short-distance
sensitivity. It cannot detect variations on sub-Planck-distance scales. Like our fingers on granite, the string smears out the jittery
ultramicroscopic fluctuations of the gravitational field. Although the resulting fluctuations are still substantial, this smearing
smooths them out just enough to cure the incompatibility between general relativity and quantum mechanics. And, in particular, the
pernicious infinities (discussed in the preceding chapter) that arise in the point-particle approach to forming a quantum theory of
gravity are done away with by string theory.

An essential difference between the granite analogy and our real concern with the spatial fabric is that there are ways in which the
microscopic discreteness of the granite's surface can be exposed: Finer, more precise probes than our fingers can be used. An
electron microscope has the ability to resolve surface features to less than a millionth of a centimeter; this is sufficiently small to
reveal the numerous surface imperfections. By contrast, in string theory there is no way to expose the sub-Planck-scale
"imperfections" in the fabric of space. In a universe governed by the laws of string theory, the conventional notion that we can
always dissect nature on ever smaller distances, without limit, is not true. There is a limit, and it comes into play before we
encounter the devastating quantum foam of Figure 5.1. Therefore, in a sense that will be made more precise in later chapters, one
can even say that the supposed tempestuous sub-Planckian quantum undulations do not exist. A positivist would say that something
exists only if it can—at least in principle—be probed and measured. Since the string is supposed to be the most elementary object
in the universe and since it is too large to be affected by the violent sub-Planck-length undulations of the spatial fabric, these
fluctuations cannot be measured and hence, according to string theory, do not actually arise.

A Sleight of Hand?

This discussion may leave you feeling dissatisfied. Instead of showing that string theory tames the sub-Planck-length quantum
undulations of space, we seem to have used the string's nonzero size to skirt the whole issue completely. Have we actually solved
anything? We have. The following two points will serve to emphasize this.

First, what the preceding argument implies is that the supposedly problematic sub-Planck-length spatial fluctuations are an artifact
of formulating general relativity and quantum mechanics in a point-particle framework. In a sense, therefore, the central conflict of
contemporary theoretical physics has been a problem of our own making. Because we previously envisioned all matter particles
and all force particles to be pointlike objects with literally no spatial extent, we were obligated to consider properties of the
universe on arbitrarily short distance scales. And on the tiniest of distances we ran into seemingly insurmountable problems. String
theory tells us that we encountered these problems only because we did not understand the true rules of the game; the new rules tell
us that there is a limit to how finely we can probe the universe—and, in a real sense, a limit to how finely our conventional notion
of distance can even be applied to the ultramicroscopic structure of the cosmos. The supposed pernicious spatial fluctuations are
now seen to have arisen in our theories because we were unaware of these limits and were thus led by a point-particle approach to
grossly overstep the bounds of physical reality.

Given the apparent simplicity of this solution for overcoming the problem between general relativity and quantum mechanics, you
might wonder why it took so long for someone to suggest that the point-particle description is merely an idealization and that in the
real world elementary particles do have some spatial extent. This takes us to our second point. Long ago, some of the greatest
minds in theoretical physics, such as Pauli, Heisenberg, Dirac, and Feynman, did suggest that nature's constituents might not
actually be points but rather small undulating "blobs" or "nuggets." They and others found, however, that it is very hard to
construct a theory, whose fundamental constituent is not a point particle, that is nonetheless consistent with the most basic of
physical principles such as conservation of quantum-mechanical probability (so that physical objects do not suddenly vanish from
the universe, without a trace) and the impossibility of faster-than-light-speed transmission of information. From a variety of
perspectives, their research showed time and again that one or both of these principles were violated when the point-particle
paradigm was discarded. For a long time, therefore, it seemed impossible to find a sensible quantum theory based on anything but
point particles. The truly impressive feature of string theory is that more than twenty years of exacting research has shown that
although certain features are unfamiliar, string theory does respect all of the requisite properties inherent in any sensible physical
theory. And furthermore, through its graviton pattern of vibration, string theory is a quantum theory containing gravity.