The search for higher symmetry in string theory

Some remarks are made about the nature and role of the search for higher symmetry in string theory. These symmetries are most likely to be uncovered in a mysterious ‘unbroken phase’, for which (2+ 1)-dimensional gravity provides an interesting and soluble model. New insights about conformal field theory, in which one gets ‘out of flatland’ to see a wider symmetry from a higher-dimensional vantage point, may offer clues to the unbroken phase of string theory