This is the phrase I needed to hear: " You cannot simply say
   that spacetime is the string or the "sheet" traced by the string
   as it moves, because it has not enough algebra to describe what
   can be described in standard general relativity. That's a
   problem which has been "pushed away" by means of the holographic
   principle which states that gravity will be forced to obey
   string theory."* Andrei Tudor Patrascu, theoretical physicist
   [and a good friend of mine] Indeed. So often the task of
   bringing two less-than-compatible things together (it's not just
   in physics) brings many answers to the table that require one
   side or the other to COMPLETELY abandon something critical and
   submit to the will of the other side. Of course that's not
   acceptable so negotiations continue.