  In this article I first give an abbreviated history of string theory and then
describe the recently-conjectured field-string duality. This suggests a class
of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories which are conformal (CGT) to leading order
of 1/N and some of which may be conformal for finite N. These models are very
rigid since the gauge group representations of not only the chiral fermions but
also the Higgs scalars are prescribed by the construction. If the standard
model becomes conformal at TeV scales the GUT hierarchy is nullified, and
model-building on this basis is an interesting direction. Some comments are
added about the dual relationship to gravity which is absent in the CGT
description.
