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.

But I think it is a serious issue to wonder about the other platonic absolutes of say beauty and morality.

Ambition, idly vain; revenge and malice swell her train.

Consciousness ... is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known.

No doubt there are some who, when confronted with a line of mathematical symbols, however simply presented, can only see the face of a stern parent or teacher who tried to force into them a non-comprehending parrot-like apparent competence--a duty and a duty alone--and no hint of magic or beauty of the subject might be allowed to come through.

I'm pretty tenacious when it comes to problems.

Understanding is, after all, what science is all about — and science is a great deal more than mindless computation.