  The logarithmic running of the gauge couplings alpha_1, alpha_2 and alpha_3,
indicates that they may unify at some scale M_GUT ~ 10^16. This is often taken
to imply that the standard model gauge group is embedded into some larger
simple group in which quarks and leptons are placed in the same multiplet.
These models have generic features, such as proton decay, and generic problems,
namely the splitting of the Higgs doublet and triplet. Inspired by the recent
discusion of dimensional deconstruction, we propose an interesting alternative:
we postulate a strongly coupled SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1), which is not the remnant of a
GUT, and is Higgsed with a weakly coupled SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1), which is the
remnant of a GUT, or with a GUT group directly, into the diagonal subgroup. In
this ``collapsed GUT'' mechanism, unification of coupling constants in the low
energy theory is expected, but proton decay and the doublet/triplet splitting
problem are entirely absent.
