Well I didn't actually see the Matrix but I've seen other movies where with similar sorts of themes.

As you say, the way string theory requires all these extra dimensions and this comes from certain consistency requirements about how string should behave and so on.

This book is about physics and its about physics and its relationship with mathematics and how they seem to be intimately related and to what extent can you explore this relationship and trust it.

Well, gauge theory is very fundamental to our understanding of physical forces these days. But they are also dependent on a mathematical idea, which has been around for longer than gauge theory has.

There are considerable mysteries surrounding the strange values that Nature's actual particles have for their mass and charge. For example, there is the unexplained 'fine structure constant' ... governing the strength of electromagnetic interactions.

With thought comprising a non-computational element, computers can never do what we human beings can.

And these little things may not seem like much but after a while they take you off on a direction where you may be a long way off from what other people have been thinking about.