Particle physics has become so rife with non-scientific speculation and guesswork that it's kind of a mess right now. Everyone has their pet theories and dogmatic cliques. Theoretical physics is even worse. People who study M-Theory have dedicated their careers to something that isn't even observable, let alone quantifiable or falsifiable. As they say in science, it's "not even wrong." I know string theory has been popular over the last couple of decades, but the reality is it's more speculative ******** than actual science.
If you start reading up on it, there are some major fissures in the scientific community right now about where or how to go forward with physics. There are some that believe, especially as it relates to particles, that we have pretty much reached the level of knowledge we're going to be able to get with our technology level. Just yesterday I was reading a piece from a theoretical physicist who said that there was grave concern among everyone in her field because they don't believe the boost in power the LHC is about to get (it's shutting down for two years for upgrades) will be enough to learn anything new and that funding will dry up as a result.