# What is the relationship between string net theory and string / M-theory?

I've just learned from this one of Prof. Wen's answers that there exists a theory called string net theory. Since I've never heard about this before it picks my curiosity, so Id like to ask some questions:

How is string net theory related to the "usual" string /-M-theory framework? I mean if there is a relationship between them ...

Are the strings in string net theory and in string / M-theory the same?

What are the differences in the goals one wants to achieve or phenomena in nature one can describe with those two theories?

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Thanks for these nice explanations, it already helps. Before Ill gonna watch the slides of the talk, there are some further things I`m not sure if I get it right: conserning the qubits of value 1 that make up space, are they some kind of excitations of the spin net too? When you say photons are excitations of collective motions of the string net (?), is this true for all of the bosons in the theory? The part with the electrons (and other fermions too?) that correspond to a single end of a string I dont understand yet. Are they attached at the ends –  Dilaton May 27 '12 at 17:34